


Everything Has Its Place

by coeurastronaute



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, lena is green lantern, superhero girlfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-16 05:00:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coeurastronaute/pseuds/coeurastronaute
Summary: Lena is the heiress who disappeared to find herself. When she returns, she realizes everything is different. Just when she thinks she has two friends, she realizes its just one.





	1. The Return

All alone, above the checkered skyline, the singular light glowed from the two-corner office. A few floors below, some lights remained on, though the employees were long since gone for the night. A few more below that, the lights came on and went off in an almost rhythm as the cleaning crew worked through the offices and rooms, headphones on and disinterested in much of the actual happenings of the business.

Absently, the CEO watched stock prices jump and fall on the monitors acting as bricks on the large wall across from his dark, heavy desk. None of it particularly interested him though, as he ran his finger over his lip, eyes far away and contemplating many other things simultaneously.

The light from his computer monitor faded with inactivity as he stood up and poured himself another drink before scanning the files once more. His hand-crafted leather shoes padded against the antique rug as he absently drank and tried to make sense of the calculations he requested from his research department.

On a table by the old leather couch, a marble chess set went undisturbed, though the exact location of every piece was meticulously catalogued in his head. That, too, his next move, was calculated at the same time as the files he perused. So was the ticker on the news that muted itself in the corner. So was the state of his holdings in the current market trends.

The sight was almost a picture of a memory his sister had of another man, someone she never got to say goodbye to, even. But the sight of Lex Luthor pacing languidly through the office in the middle of the night brought back so many thoughts of her father in much the same state, it was haunting.

“The new CEO of the newly branded LexCorp, as I live and breathe.”

The pacing stopped, and even with his back turned to the intruder, he knew exactly who she was, he knew exactly what she was doing. He could scarcely believe it, but he knew.

“The prodigal daughter returns,” he smirked. She could feel the anger though. The bitterness and the pain still lived there. “Just stopping by to fill up the trust fund again?”

“I came back because I saw a picture of you, and you looked like shit,” she retorted, shoving off the door and finally making her way into what she still saw as their father’s office.

Many an hour was spent there, in that exact office, on the floor, coloring pages that would be praised as masterpieces, despite her inability to stay in the lines entirely. Afternoons were spent spinning in the big chair, doing homework during meetings, and playing soccer in the halls and breaking many a picture frame. The office housed much of her childhood. Her first logarithm was still done in sharpie on a small panel beside the door.

The furniture was the same, but the feeling of the office was far from congenial, and far from her own memories that tried to parade through it all at once. She meandered through the office, looking at pictures and awards before gazing at the chess board. A few seconds later she moved a piece. The entire feeling was entirely undefinable, that loss and nostalgia and longing and remembering all wrapped up into one messy package that paraded itself as neat and not a problem.

“That is naturally what one looks like after burying their father and taking over an entire company with declining stock prices, all on their own,” he muttered, tossing the files on the desk before turning around and leaning there, carefully crossing his arms. “After waging a publicity and legal war against the godlike hero that killed him.”

“Knight takes G7,” she explained, moving the pawn to the side with the rest of the defeated pieces. “I did my best to get back. I didn’t hear about it until–”

“King to D8,” Lex flexed his jaw. “I’m sure the reception is terrible in… where was it this time? Deep in the mountains of Nepal? Some hovel in India? The last email I got said some camp in Zambia, but that was almost two years ago.”

“Father used to admire my free-spirit,” Lena tossed back. “That was why he funded my charity efforts. Queen to F6.” She met his eyes, challenging. “That and the fact that I couldn’t look at him after I saw what he wanted to do to those poor peop–”

“You were always one to go in guns blazing. Haven’t seen you in the headlines in a while. I thought maybe you were dead somewhere too.”

“I’ve grown up.”

It was the truth of the truth. Gone was the girl who ran away and drank too much. In her place stood someone who had a kind of humble pride and awful knowledge about the ways of the world.

“You’re rusty,” he admonished. “Father knew he was funding your partying and traipsing all over. He babied you, hid you from the harsh facts of those aliens you like to think care about us. We all did, and you couldn’t even show up for his funeral. Or if you thought you were, you’re about…” he checked his watch, “ten months too late.”

“I didn’t know, Lex!” she yelped, losing that bit of cool she tried to retain despite desperately wanting to not cry.

All of her efforts, all that she’d seen and accomplished and fought for since she’d been gone, it all was relegated to second place when she was just a little sister under the harsh Luthor eyes.

Gone was the gentle, thoughtful boy she remembered. In his place was the stern, wounded man she saw in the pictures. His features were more angular, the sheen to his head a little less glaring. The dark of his eyes was not warm and full of mirth like she remembered when she’d been kicked out of college and he took her out to celebrate.

“It was just me. It’s been just me. And I’ll handle everything else. No need for you to worry about your big brother,” he sneered. “Knight takes queen.”

For a moment the siblings looked at each other, both hurting in much the same way, though both equally incapable of voicing it, and so instead it just came out in jabs and parries, hoping to keep the upper hand. Both tilted their chins, both held that regal indifference and muted apathy like a shield against all attacks.

“Bishop to E7. Checkmate,” she whispered, carefully knocking over the king in defeat. “You can’t hate me forever, Lex. Father always said we were all each other had. I came back to help you. To make sure you were alright. To find some… I don’t know. To say goodbye.”

“I don’t need any help.”

“I know, but I thought you might miss me a little. I missed you,” she offered a small attempt at a smile. “We need family at times like this.”

“You disappeared! You’ve been gone for years, not a trace!” He yelled before calming himself with another drink of the liquor he poured himself. “Where were you?”

“Believe me, if I would have known. If I could have been here, I would have. I just… I got into some stuff,” Lena knit her fingers together, fiddled with her jewelry anxiously. “And then I took up with this group that was helping, but we were a bit removed and out of reception. I did a lot of growing up, I thought I was going to find out what happened to my birth parents. It’s just been… It’s been a long, long, long few years. One thing led to another, and I got… I–”

“That’s about six non-answers, and not one of them is whole or makes sense.”

The truth was no where close to her tongue.

“I was trying to do some good, Lex. After I saw that… that… program Father started. He was responsible for– I just. I ran away from the debt I could feel. We had money that we earned in literal blood and war. I couldn’t–”

Nothing was going right. Lena wasn’t sure she expected the red carpet or even a warm reception after disappearing without a word, after missing her father’s funeral, but she hadn’t expected Lex to be so angry. Just a few breaths ago, she found out that she didn’t have even an adopted father any longer, and suddenly she was a double orphan, and now she was there, with the only semblance of family, and she couldn’t tell him the truth, she couldn’t tell him anything he wanted to hear because he didn’t want to hear anything.

Her brother finished the glass and moved to fill it up again.

“Dad boasted about you to everyone, you know?” Lex sighed. “My Lena is opening a school for girls in Sri Lanka. Or, my Lena is working at a clinic, and she has these ideas to help with this or that disease. He was always flashing those pictures you’d email him, with school kids hanging from your neck. He showed the Hungarian Ambassador about twenty.”

“He did?”

“Relentlessly,” he smiled to himself as the decanter clanked when he finished filling. “He saw pictures of you out and about with friends, but you were allowed parties in London or drinking on a yacht in Borneo because you were a saint to him. I’d tell him to bring you back, let you take your place with us, but he’d shake his head and say, ‘let her go. She’s happier.’ And then you disappeared. He was a wreck when he didn’t hear from you. It’s been three years, Lena. Where were you?”

“I was… I was… I just. I was everywhere” she lied swiftly. “Working on a few ideas, backpacking, working with non-profits, working period, experiencing life. I couldn’t… I didn’t know how to look at him when I saw what we did, or when I saw the plans for… it was genocide, Lex,” she shook her head. “What was I supposed to do? Honestly, I was just. I’ve been trying to be someone that I’m supposed to be. That Dad thought I was. I don’t know.”

“It’s not genocide, it’s war, and it’s protecting us, people like you and me, from those things.”

“That’s not true.”

“Did you find her?”

“What?”

“Did you find the girl you were supposed to be?” Lex asked, watching the liquid swirl around his glass.

Sadly, with the harsh reality before her, Lena shook her head. She didn’t have it in her to tell him that she was more lost than ever before, so instead she just clenched her jaw and looked away.

They remained opposing forces despite her best efforts. So much regret bubbled in her chest that she didn’t know how to breathe through it.

“He died in a pile of rubble, and you were locked away in some half-assed attempt at a walkabout. We are at war with those aliens. One killed our father,” her brother pointed out. “And you just show up like you went to the grocery store and just got back and didn’t miss everything.”

Angry as he was, he stood a little straighter and reigned it all in, the heaving of his shoulders stopping as he took a few deep breaths and met the weary eyes of his sister, suddenly offput by the wrath he unleashed after having no one else to understand such things. 

“It happened so fast,” Lena shook her head. “If I had known. I swear, Lex. You have to believe me. I found out exactly six hours ago, and I got here that quick. I wouldn’t have… I would have run the entire universe to get here if I had known any sooner. I didn’t come because I didn’t know.”

“You just found out six hours ago?” the CEO furrowed and stared hard at his sister.

“Yeah. I’m… I don’t want to think about it. I came for you. I can’t think about it yet. I haven’t…”

Strong and determined, pants pressed into crisp lines and shirt meticulously rolled up at the arms, though still starch stiff and stringent, he crossed the room in just four steps. He hugged his sister tightly.

Though not blood, they were bound by fate and choice, and finally, Lena allowed herself to feel it all. They were not an overly emotional family. They did not cry and they did not outrageously applaud each other. It was a surprise to hear that her father even boasted about her. They bore emotions with quiet dignity and they pent it up until they were alone. Lena often failed at it, hence the difficulty in truly feeling herself to be a Luthor. But Lex never did. He was genial in public, he was soft-spoken and assured, but he was not one for comfort.

But her brother hugged her anyway because despite all else, he understood duty to blood and family, duty to the name, duty to be a big brother, despite his little sister being infinitely infuriating.

It took a moment for her to hug him back, but she finally did and took a deep breath.

“Still underestimate me at chess,” she whispered.

“You still annoy the hell out of me.”

“I can’t believe they’re both gone.”

“I can’t believe you came home.”

Chin on Lex’s shoulder, Lena clenched her jaw and nodded. She fiddled with the ring on her finger and tried not to hate herself more than she currently did, though her ability to continually surprise herself reared its head in the form of violent self-flagellation.

Lena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She lasted that long without crying. She just needed to make it a bit longer, until she was safe in a bed where she could pull the blankets over her head like when she was a child and the world was as small as her duvet.

“Are you staying?” Lex asked.

“For as long as I can.”

“What does that mean?”

“I have obligations, now.”

“You do, to your family,” he reminded her as he pulled away.

Her hand felt heavy as she nodded. Which family was the question of the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was a rhythm to National City, and Kara knew it well. Lazily drifting over the skyline, she scanned the streets and listened to the happenings of the normal night. Her last round before calling it a success, she let her mind wonder to work, to her real life, to the other side of her life, to her sister, and the lunch she was desperately trying not to forget that they had scheduled for Thursday, to her sudden worry that she left the oven on, to wondering if she had anything left to make for a late night snack or if she should stop by the store.

Her city was quiet, her thoughts were loud, and her life was alarmingly solid, alarmingly boring, and alarmingly empty. The long hours, the countless days without sleep and deep into her work and side job and research and preventing and helping, it was all to keep away moments like this, where she was alone with herself and the stark realization that life, no matter how safe, was becoming monotonous.

Each new disaster was quelled. Each new problem was faced, analyzed, and defeated, and at night, Supergirl climbed into bed and wondered how much the same it would be the following morning. She was Sisyphus, and the city was her boulder.

The haphazard train of thought abruptly stopped when she heard an alarm going off across the city, and with a quick adjustment, she was off and on her way. She found herself trailing a speeding SUV just a minute after first hearing the alarm. Sirens started to follow, though they were still in the distance.

“I just want to go to sleep. I have stuff to do in the morning, fellas,” Supergirl complained, dodging a delivery van as the SUV wove through the little bit of late night traffic that remained. “Really important stuff. Oh. Come on.”

The grenade went off, tossed from the window and aimed well enough near her chest to blow her back, skidding into the ground in a tumble.

“Now I’m going to break their bones,” she decided, slapping the pavement and pushing off once again. “I don’t even care if Alex gets mad.”

A flash of green made the hero stop immediately as the SUV found itself jacked up by a bright green pylon, seemingly conjured out of nowhere. The back wheels kept spinning, not finding traction.

“You guys shouldn’t be driving so fast,” a voice echoed, lowering herself in front of the SUV, the ring on her finger glowing bright green.

Firm and strong, the stranger was clad in black, her mask white, and the emblem on her chest a deep, dark green. Hair that was darker than that waved in the breeze as her hand anchored itself on her hip while the other stood straight out, pointing at the SUV.

For the longest time, Kara couldn’t place the newest addition to the scene, instead she just gawked before furrowing that her capture was getting hijacked from some rogue alien. She got blown up by those thieves, she thought to herself indignantly.

The hero sized up the stranger as she landed on the ground, crossing her arms expectantly, ready for a fight of a different kind suddenly.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Supergirl finally interrupted.

“Supergirl? I’ve heard a lot about you,” she smiled. Green eyes met hers behind the mask that sat firmly over her nose and eyes. “It wasn’t all great, but the source is a bit biased. Do you need something?”

“I’ve been chasing them for about two miles.”

“Right. Sorry,” the stranger scratched her neck slightly.

Before they could argue any further, the doors started to open. Quickly, Kara fought off two of them, carefully keeping an eye on the strange alien that was wearing a costume and fighting crime and suddenly she understood how people felt when she first appeared.

The SUV hit the ground a few minutes later. Kara saw the stranger in the middle of a fight, her concentration taken away from keeping the tires up. With a roll of her eyes, she put the other criminal down as the car sped away.

“Thanks.”

“Who are you?” Supergirl demanded, her voice strong and stern.

“Friendly, intergalactic Green Lantern. You know? Brightest day, blackest night?” she cocked her head, slowly waving her hand in time with the words. “Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my pow… No? Nothing?”

“Stay here. I have to finish this,” she ordered, unamused by the lie. “And then I think we have some things to discuss.”

“It’s fine,” the other hero smiled, turning toward the SUV.

A green beam shot out from her ring as a giant hand picked up the car, bringing it back toward them. With a gentle move, she shook it until the driver and a passenger fell out onto the sidewalk.

“I could have gotten it,” Supergirl insisted.

“I know. But you told me not to move,” the Green Lantern shrugged. “This seemed quicker.”

“I don’t know who you think you are, coming in here like this! I don’t know where you got that ring, but there’s no way– Where are you going?”

“A simple ‘thank you’ would have been fine, Supergirl.”

Kara tossed a criminal toward the pile of the rest who were moaning and generally complaining about their lot in life as she followed the rogue hero toward the SUV.

“What are you doing?”

“Listen, I have to get going. Thanks for the warm welcome.”

“That’s stolen,” Kara pointed to the case the other hero grabbed.

“I know. I just need a look.”

The green light shot out and scanned the contents, acting much like Kara’s X-ray vision, which was a marvel to Supergirl, to say the least.

“Seriously, who are you?”

The sirens got closer as the beam disappeared and the hero handed over the briefcase to the Kryptonian.

“I’ll just be on my way. Let’s not do this again.”

“I was minding my own business, stopping a crime when a completely strange alien with a magic ring showed up,” Kara challenged.

“First, I’m not an alien. Second, I have been dreading running into you, and now I see why. You’re just so, so, so… “

“We get wary of strangers with powers around here, especially those belonging to groups that have been disbanded.”

“It’s not magic. I’m part of a intergalactic crime prevention org–”

“The Lanterns were… they were dismantled after the whole rogue guy destroyed their planet,” Kara furrowed. “I remember my mother talking about it when I was a kid there was–”

“Don’t tell,” she held up her finger to her lips and winked before nodding and taking off.

Kara moved to follow but was weighed down. She saw the chain and weight attached to her ankle keeping her there. In a second the strange hero was out of reach, and her chains were released.

She was supposed to be on her last round, and now, Kara found herself on her way to the DEO to do some research on National City’s newest resident vigilante.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

High atop the cloudy city, the corner office was half under construction, and half already in use out of pure necessity. The builders were forced to come at night, leaving half of the room tarped or still filled with sawhorses and uncut boards. It was the organized chaos of tailoring the office that mimicked the absolute chaos of the desk as the inhabitant of the office attempted to reclaim some semblance of peace in one facet of her life.

“Jess, when is my office going to look less like a torture chamber and more like, I don’t know, an office?” Lena yelled as she continued to sort documents on her desk, files and budgets and proposals that had not been looked at in years, all scattered on every inch of surface.

“There’s an intercom, right there,” the secretary pointed at a mound on the corner of the desk.

“You’re so quiet,” her boss jumped at her noise. “If I wanted to use the intercom I would have.”

“Do you not remember how?”

“I remember how,” she sassed back, handing over files to the tiny girl who stood expectantly, for she was never called for something as trivial as a complaint. More always came.

“If you don’t I can show you again,” Jess offered, wrangling the pages stacked in her arms.

“Jess, I am a certified genius. I have an actual certificate. I have won numerous chess championships, have been to nearly every country on the planet, helped develop a program that can analyze transactions and more accurately pinpoint fraud, patented my own stock monitoring software and sold it to the Securities and Exchange commision to safeguard against tampering with US markets, I speak almost twenty languages fluently, at least sixteen at an intermediate level, I think I solved the Zodiac killer case, and I was asked to leave not one, not two, but three different doctoral programs because I infuriated so many professors with my calculations and debunking of their own papers that entire math and engineering departments threatened to quit. I am more than capable of using an intercom.”

All Luthor. That was what the secretary saw. Luthor, as in, made of steel and forged in flames and fearless. It was a sight to see, jaw strong, eyes stronger, shoulders effortlessly broad and presence effortlessly overwhelming, as if they were crafted to impose themselves politely on a space without anyone noticing until they did.

“Then why don’t you?”

“Because,” Lena insisted, furrowing. “I enjoy the sound of my own voice echoing through the office like a thunderclap. I enjoy screaming myself raw. I enjoy having this conversation with you. Or possibly it is broken because those idiots in IT are idiots.”

“All you have to do is dial one and press the button next to my name,” Jess reminded her. “Einstein was an impressive man, but he forgot to wear socks.”

“What does that mean?” she cocked and eyebrow and waited, the stern, almost violent kind of green eyes on her employee.

“It means that geniuses can solve unsolvable equations, but often can’t balance their checkbook.”

Six weeks ago, Lex told his sister to come to work, that she’d mourned enough, that she had a place. When she showed up for lunch, ready to argue with him, ready to tell him that she didn’t want anything to do with a company that profited the way it did, that she’d live off of her trust fund, that she’d find something else, he countered before she could open her mouth. Just a few floors below his, he showed her the gutted space, the white floors bright from the light of the giant windows.

A single desk sat by the back office, with a tiny girl already going through one box of the twenty or so that were stacked in wild form around her.

That was how Lena was gifted the Luthor Foundation. That was how she took over the long defunct initiative her father started to get the media off of his back for his rather ruthless methods and when a few of his developments were deemed slightly illegal and completely dangerous.

That was how her brother got her involved.

That was how she found herself in that office, stuck behind the desk.

That was how she found herself the in to try to use Luthor tech to help her night work.

That was how she got a secretary who somehow wasn’t afraid of her, and that, she honestly enjoyed.

“I pay you to do things, don’t I?” she finally asked after letting herself smile at her assistant’s analogy.

With a nod, Jess the secretary made her way out to the hall, using her foot to pull the door shut behind her.

The frustration that came behind her new job was a different kind of bother. For three years she trained, in every possible way, but she never learned how to do any of this, any of the business stuff that she rebelled against from her family. She learned how to wield her power and she learned how to fight, she learned philosophy from every corner of the universe, and she learned impossible physics, gorged herself on it, and now she decided how to raise money and spend money and it was numbing.

For three year she battled, waged a war, lost friends, lost hope, lost it all. For three years, she ran away and she thought she was on the trail of something, only to realize she was more lost than ever.

Her mother was dead, her father was dead, her birth parents were even longer dead to her, and the grief of it all sat, unexpelled and undisturbed in her chest.

Lena never learned to be human, not ever in her life. She never had to be. She was brusque and quiet and shy and hid it all beneath a veneer of quiet detachment. She had money, so she did not need attachments. She had an aloof demeanor which kept away feckless admirers. She did not know how to be human or happy. This was her hardest mission.

Lost in thought, she ignored her piles of work and tapped her heel against the bottom of her foot restlessly as she swivelled and stared out toward the city. Absently she twirled the ring on her middle finger.

She had a brother, she had a duty to him. She had a mission, she had a duty to that. She had guilt, and she had a duty to it.

“Ms. Luthor, your two o'clock is here,” Jess’ voice murmured over the smothered intercom.

With a resigned sigh, the head of the foundation organized what she could on her desk before standing.

“Send them in, Jess!” she called.

“We’re working out the bugs on the intercom,” the secretary could be heard apologizing as she led the meeting into the half-finished office.

Lena continually reconsidered every decision she made, from putting on that ring, from opening that file on her father’s computer that showed her the plans for his evil acts, from letting her brother talk her into staying out of duty, from entering a war she had no right being in, from that girl in Milan to having oatmeal for breakfast.

And then Kara Danvers walked into her office.


	2. Chapter 2

The blue was familiar. Lena found herself completely usurped, overcome, overwhelmed, defeated by that shade of blue despite the cage of glasses that tried to obscure it. She stood behind her desk and watched the newest entrant to it smile politely and hide behind the shield of her notebook, held tightly in her hands.

Clad in an unassuming sweater, with the pressed khakis and hair pulled back in a schoolgirl ponytail, the reporter was nothing more than a pastel dream, innocent and unassuming. Lena stared at her like she was an alien, like she was a face out of a dream, which bothered her, because she knew that scientifically, the human brain is incapable of creating new faces, only using ones it knows to crafts characters in imagination. And yet, this woman, this woman with the soft smile and beautiful eyes and sweater, was confounding, defied science.

It was almost as if she watched it happen. She heard herself take a deep breath in, she felt her lungs hold it, she couldn’t look away from the girl and suddenly everything was different. The world was different than just two minutes ago before she knew that Kara Danvers existed.

“Ms. Luthor?” Jess interrupted the stalemate.

It was enough to shake her out of it. Beneath her repressed veneer, she might have flushed a bit red at the stalled introduction. She wasn’t someone who marveled or was in awe of another. It was a trait she loved about herself, her ability to remain unsurprised and unaware of others.

The problem being, she was very confused as to what being aware of someone entailed. She was exceedingly aware of her next meeting and those lips and jaw and smile and eyes.

“Kara Danvers, the reporter from CatCo,” the secretary offered, eyeing her employer.

“Of course, I’m sorry, please,” Lena held out her hand and shook before offering a chair to the reporter across from the desk. “Thank you, Jess. Can I offer you anything? Coffee, tea, water?”

“No, I’m fine. Thank you,” the reporter smiled softly, almost genuinely, so much so that it caught Lena off guard.

Once again, Jess watched between the two who seemed content to not say anything to the other. It was honestly the worst meeting she’d ever seen. Her boss was a smooth-talker, a real ball-buster, a fearless beacon and every bit as strong and deceptively coy about her intelligence as her brother, oft compared to a viper. And suddenly she was quiet and couldn’t blink or look away from the reporter. If she wouldn’t have known any better, she would have guessed her absolutely spellbound by the woman, completely taken, utterly enamoured, but Lena Luthor didn’t get those things.

“If you need me, just hit the intercom,” Jess interjected before nodding at both as she made her exit.

“I’m sorry for the mess. We’re in a bit of a renovation phase.”

“I’ve seen worse,” she offered politely as she took a seat. “This isn’t terrible. Great view.”

Both found it safer to look at the world outside for a moment while they caught their bearings. From what, exactly, they weren’t sure. But still. The world spun.

“It’s not terrible. I’ve had better though. I’m not one for office life, I’m afraid,” Lena explained, casually attempting to arrange her monstrosity of a desk, suddenly self-conscious of herself. “You’re from CatCo. You work with Cat Grant?”

“Sometimes. I started as her assistant, and then moved up. You’re actually first on my to do list.”

“Well, that is an honor, Ms. Danvers,” she smirked, eye brows shooting up at the line that was honestly not used as a line.

“I mean. Um. That came out. No. I mean. What I mean. See. Okay,” the reporter sputtered, adjusting her glasses, pushing them higher on her nose as she turned bright, bright red. Lena watched it climb her neck with morbid fascination. “You’re my first story, if you agree to an interview. I didn’t mean it to sound so… lewd.”

“One man’s lewd is another man’s intriguing proposition.”

Kara gulped and refused to meet the Luthor’s eyes. It was an addicting reaction to earn, and with such little effort. Just like that, she had the upper hand, and Lena clawed and clung to it because at this rate, she was whipped in under eight seconds by the champion cowgirl across from her.

“So the article,” she decided to start, as the best course of action. “You reappeared and basically, I’d just kind of love to get into your head about where you were, what it means to come back, the rhetoric your family has used, what you hope to accomplish, the woman behind the mystery, if you will.”

“Trust me, Ms. Danvers, you are already in my head.”

“Ms. Luthor, I… I didn’t. I just. Ms. Grant was specific.”

“Cat Grant hated my father. If I remember correctly, she had a few headlines for my family that were quite cruel, if not clever. I can’t help but be a little wary.”

Lena fiddled with a pen, watching the reporter, trying to place her, wondering where the flirting came from, and if that was what it was. For the life of her, she wasn’t entirely sure. Under honest eyes she felt very weak, and she waited for the defensiveness that was natural to her stature, though it never came. She never forgot a face, and yet here she was, certain she’d seen this intriguing girl before, certain she wanted to see her again for no other reason other than to see her smile and feel like someone who got smiles like that.

“Your father had a lot of strong opinions.” There was bite to those words that oddly enough turned Lena on more than she wanted to admit.

“That’s a diplomatic way to put it.”

“There would be questions about it. And if you could explain that, how your family deals in… how your family sits behind those words.”

“We sit behind them?” she scoffed.

“Your brother has made no effort to distance the company from the legacy of your father. He backed the campaigns of three major anti-alien senators, as well as repeatedly funded incendiary organizations.”

“Sounds like him,” she said tersely, tight and barely able to think of it all.

Of course a girl like that would look at her with natural disgust. That made sense, and she remembered where she was again, who she was.

“The interview is about you,” Kara explained, though Lena saw her agitation at the facts she recited. If there was any doubt which side of the spectrum she fell on, Lena found it with the very out of place snarl on her face when it came to Lex Luthor. “But I think it’s natural to suppose that questions of your dealing with that kind of rhetoric will come up. I don’t want to lie to you about that. This isn’t a puff piece. It’s not hard hitting. I’m not trying to ‘get you,’ but I do just want it to be honest.”

“Of course.”

“There isn’t much about you in the world. You’ve managed to keep very under the radar in terms of publicity, but your family, on the other hand, hasn’t, and the notoriously tight knit family business suddenly embracing the lost heir is a bit of a mystery. People are curious what Lex Luthor’s sister is doing, what she is capable of doing, what she will do.”

For a moment, Lena considered the words, the assumptions made by the reporter. She smiled at the notion of what she was capable of rendering. The disdain in the reporter’s voice when she said the voice Luthor though. She was familiar with that, and it stung worse from a voice like that.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Danvers, but I think you have me mistaken for someone that I most definitely am not,” Lena furrowed and shook her head, balking at the misconstrued construction that the reporter envisioned. It was slight, but it was all there, and she saw the reporter notice.

“I was just–”

“I regret to inform you that I do not share the views of my family. In fact, it’s a very private matter, and quite frankly a little bothersome that you’d think that.”

Slapped, Kara felt her eyes widen as she stared at the woman she knew absolutely nothing about despite hours spent digging before the meeting. If this was her one shot, she was already failing. Which felt par for the course, honestly.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Kara offered. “I’m… I’m learning to not feel so much. Of course you don’t have to share those feelings. It just looks as if… It’s a steep curve, and this is a sensitive subject.”

“Is that what National City thinks of me? Just a princess who follows her brother like an obedient puppy?” the business woman asked, her jaw betraying the calm to her voice.

“I’m not sure.”

With a small nod and hum, Lena sat back slightly in her chair, disinterested in the woman across from her for the moment. Her eyes roved toward the window while her brow grew deep and heavy. She had many calculations to make.

From across the desk, the reporter watched her think, watched the speed at which her brain must have moved and turned. A gentle hand rested under her chin, delicate fingers languidly floating in the air there. But it was the ring that stopped Kara. The emerald green stuck out to her and triggered something in her memory.

For a moment she considered it, but couldn’t rectify the woman across from her as the same vigilante she saw the other night. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be. But she couldn’t very well not get closer and figure out what the heck was happening. It was decided right there, in that second. Kara had to know more about the mysterious Luthor, no matter what kind of game she was playing.

“I don’t think that about you, if that matters, Ms. Luthor,” Kara cleared her throat and offered. It wasn’t the complete truth, though Kara could see the pained look behind the well-trained eyes that attempted to display nothing at all. “At least I don’t think I do. I jumped to conclusions, you’re right. I apologize, profusely.”

As if woken from a reverie, Lena smiled gently, just on one side, the faintest hint of a dimple appearing. Kara was in love with how her brain must work, how her emotions were so volatile and right beneath the surface, but managed so steadfast and strong, it must have been like Hercules wrangling a river. She was in love with that smirk and those eyes and she refused to think of such things because that damn ring distracted her completely.

“Lena,” she offered, swirling the chair slightly so that those eyes were once again on the reporter. Almost bashfully, if the business woman was capable of such things, she ducked her head and sat up a little in her chair, quickly tucking her hands under the desk, though Kara could see her fiddling with the ring. “Please.”

“Lena,” Kara repeated, tasting it softly in her mouth and throat. She savored it and smiled.

“If I do this interview, can I distance myself from those ideas and things my family has said, and still not look disloyal to my brother?”

“Can you, yourself, be both?”

“That’s a question I have been terrified to ask myself, Ms. Danvers,” she confessed with a small laugh as a way to hide her nerves.

“Kara.”

“Kara,” she repeated, her lips curling slightly until she bit the edge of one and looked away. “I don’t know anyone in National City. I work terrible hours. And you’re telling me that people already probably think I’m an anti-alien hatemonger.”

“No. Not explicitly. I wouldn’t–”

“Really makes my prospects slim, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll admit, that sounds bleak. Which is why this is your chance, to be whoever you want to be. Believe me. I understand how much of a gift that is.”

“I don’t have an answer to your question,” Lena sighed. “If I agree, can we start with easier questions, like my sign, how I like my coffee, and favorite color maybe?”

“We can start wherever you want, Ms. Luth– Lena,” Kara caught herself with a smile that Lena thought was sunlight.

For a moment, Lena considered. She didn’t like it about herself, it was a fact that got her into a lot of trouble when she was younger, when she was… abroad… training. But when a girl like Kara Danvers walked into her office, she knew right away she would agree to whatever she wanted. She could have asked for Plutonium, and Lena would have found some to hand over eagerly.

“Aries. Two cream, one sugar. Blue,” she smiled. “Take notes, Ms. Danvers. I’m not spouting this gold for no one to remember. Blue, but be specific. Blue like… blue like,” from behind the desk, Lena thoughtfully searched Kara’s eyes. “Forget-me-not’s. Those little flowers? Do you know what I mean?”

“I think. Yeah. I mean. Sure,” she swallowed and looked away from the roving glances. “I’ll just. Write that down.”

“Jess!” Lena called from her desk. She waited a few seconds until the door opened. “Can you help schedule Ms. Danvers whenever she’d like to start. I imagine it might take a few visits to finish, don’t worry about that.”

“I don’t want to take up your time.”

“Nonsense,” Lena smiled and stood. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it properly. Please let Jess set everything up, and I will see you soon.”

“I’m sure of it,” Kara promised, shaking her hand once again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The café on the corner was unsuspecting and unassuming. The checkered tiled floor was well worn, the booths were half sturdy and half with wobbly tables while the walls were a din of white that was not quite off, but not quite on. Frames of different news clippings and family photos covered the walls while the display showed lots of beautiful, imperfect pastries that looked human and created rather than processed. It all felt very real, to Lena, much better than a restaurant that opened a year ago, or the trendy coffee shop she stopped in every morning.

Just a week after Kara Danvers walked into her office, Lena found herself anxiously counting down the days until their first interview session. She’d anticipated her office, though it was still half construction site and the intercom didn’t work, no matter what Jess said. She wasn’t bothered by the diner Kara picked out though, thoughtfully texting the address two days ahead of time. In fact, she arrived an hour early.

The walk wasn’t too long, just a handful of blocks, and Lena needed it. All of the digging into her brother was met with dead ends. She was incapable of hacking him just yet, and it was exhausting spending so much time on the code of it all, going line by line to find a weak spot. But she had to know what he was up to, and she had to prove that it was unrelated to the missing aliens, to the dull murmurs of the city that felt uneasy at best. She had to prove to herself that he was past it all, done with the sins of their father. She saw too many people die already.

There was eagerness to see Kara Danvers again, even when she learned nothing from a bit of deep research on Lex’s servers. Graduated from Midvale High School, National City University for History, not even a parking ticket or drunk and disorderly on her record. Her social media presence rivaled that of Lena’s in its distinct lack of existence. A few pictures of her with friends, a few small, local articles. She was a mystery.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Kara offered as she breezed into the tiny speck of a diner, quickly finding the Luthor. “There was a battle– on the sidewalk to get through. Lots of foot traffic.”

“You’re right on time, Kara,” she promised.

“Hello, sweetheart,” the waitress met them both with an apathetic smile. “The usual?”

“Two coffees, and– are you hungry?” the reporter asked, digging through her bag as she watched Lena shake her head. “Two pieces of blueberry pie.”

“Coming right up.”

“I’m not hungry, I swear,” Lena argued.

“I know. Or I would have ordered three pieces. Though you’re going to want to try it. It’s the best in the city.”

“That so?”

“If I know anything, it’s pie,” Kara promised earnestly. So earnestly, in fact, that Lena found herself smiling, amazed at the whirlwind.

By the time everything was delivered, there was an easy banter. Lena felt at home, for some reason, right there in that booth. She couldn’t remember smiling for the past three years, and yet every time she thought about the bespectacled reporter, she did, against her will.

“Okay, it’s very good,” she assented as she took a bite of the pie. Kara slid the second piece over to her. “So, how do we start?”

“I want it to feel natural. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” the reporter shrugged. “This is an exposé, we’re here to learn about you. Like I said,” she explained, sucking her thumb from blueberry sweetness. “This is your chance to be whoever you want to be. So it’s just a casual conversation, to get a feel for you.”

“Hopefully you’ll leave me with a few secrets.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Like you don’t have a few you play close to the chest, Ms. Danvers,” Lena accused with her fork after another bite.

“Me? No. I’m. No,” she shook her head and furrowed, paying much too much attention to her food. “I’m an open book.”

“Says all the best secret keepers.”

The way she could move back and forth, from flirty to serious, from earnest to mysterious, it was impossible to keep track of, and it was something Kara wanted to learn. The reporter had a habit for picking up strays, for finding the sadness and doing her best to steal it from people, to take it away and gobble it up. Lena was a buffet of it all.

“Where do we start?” Kara cleared her throat.

“Did I give you my sign already?”

Reluctant as she was, Lena found it infuriatingly easy to talk to the reporter. Only when she moved to make a note or jot something down or flip through the notes she’d come prepared with, did she remember that she could not be completely honest, with her, or anyone.

Still, there was the nagging feeling of knowing her from somewhere, though Kara never gave an indication of it at all. Lena thought it over continuously while she answered questions, doing her best to give better answers than the ones she once gave her brother just a handful of months ago.

“My father said a lot of things, preached a lot of things, tried to create a lot of things that I am not proud of, that I didn’t want to be involved with,” Lena explained, carefully wiping her mouth before picking up the coffee cup. “If you want the honest answer, that was why I left Metropolis. I left about five years ago, and I never saw him again.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara shook her head.

“You clearly had no love lost on him, from your rants about alien rights just a bit ago.”

“It’s never something I’d wish on someone, to die, no matter what they said,” she disagreed. “And even without that. I’m sorry that you never got to see your father before he died. That’s… difficult.”

“It’s hard, to love someone, but hate them at the same time.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“I don’t think you could hate anyone, Kara,” Lena accused, amused at the thought. “I just met you, and despite my reputation in this city, you’ve been nothing but kind to me.”

“It’s not difficult,” was all that she could manage.

Lena enjoyed the fact that the tips of her ears grew pink at the observation. Lena hated that she noticed it. She wasn’t supposed to notice things about cute reporters. She had a mission, she didn’t have a life.

But there was something about her.

Absently, she played with her ring and hummed to herself as the diner cleared and filled, always ebbing, always with traffic and people coming and going.

“That’s an interesting ring,” Kara finally tried, nudging her head toward it.

“Oh this?” she asked, stilling herself before looking, as if she could forget what it looked like or the weight of it. “It was my birth mother’s. I didn’t find it until I decided to do some research on them. To see if I could find them. It just led in a big circle, but I like it well enough. Here.”

“I couldn’t–”

“It’s interesting enough,” Lena explained, slipping it off and holding it up until Kara took it, examining it studiously. “From what I can tell, it was once a family heirloom. The emerald is nice, but the metal is old. It’s a little bulky, but I’ve grown to like it.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Kara knew the myth and legend of the lore of the Corps. She couldn’t know if this was a ring. It couldn’t be. There was no way. A Lantern wouldn’t just take it off in a diner downtown and hand it over so easily. It wouldn’t be so simple and it would glow or have some power to it, though Kara could sense none.

“Thank you.”

Carefully, she slipped it back on and nodded to herself.

“Did you find anything else, about your parents?”

“Unfortunately not,” she lied. “Just a few yearbooks, a few letters. As far as I know, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t remember living with them, or being adopted. I guess I’ve been a Luthor too long.”

“I don’t know many, but you’re nothing like them, from what I can tell.”

“And you are very naive, Kara.”

“Another piece of pie says I can get you to admit that even you don’t feel like one, most days.”

“You’ve really done your research,” Lena grinned wickedly. “You’re on.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn’t her job, but after the introduction to the League, Lena couldn’t help but argue herself into averting her course from her way home when she heard the screams and smelled the smoke of the fire at the large apartment complex. She was tired. She was actually what some might refer to as clinically exhausted, but deep in her gut that feeling of righteousness yawned and prepared to fight her tired. And it would win.

Very late into her short night, despite the fact that she had to be awake in just a few hours, she felt the pull to stop and help, and so she did.

Hovering just outside of the building she held up her ring and created a slide from some of the floors, helping a family escape. She pushed herself through an open window and caught a roof as it began to fall, creating a bubble between herself and the floor, propping it up with all of her strength as the firefights stared at her with abject fascination and skittered out of the room.

“We meet again,” a voice caught her as she surveyed the efforts to put out the fire of the now empty building. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anything for you, Supergirl. I was just on my way home.”

The two heros smiled at each other as they surveyed the other before deciding the fire and smoke was a better option.

“I was rude, the last time we met. I didn’t mean to be so… I apparently have a habit of jumping the gun in judging people,” Kara took a deep breath.

“Your cousin explained the wariness you might have,” the ring-wielding hero observed. “The man from Daxam that betrayed you. The family that left you. I’m not here to protect this city. I’m here to protect this sector. I won’t be causing you any problems.”

“You know… Superman?”

“As the Green Lantern assigned here, it is my duty to be part of the League, to monitor with them.”

“You’re part of the Justice League?”

“Yeah, aren’t you?” she cocked her head and watched blonde hair move in the breeze as they lingered there, twenty stories up, alone in the dark.

“I haven’t… I’ve been… Mostly I just… see, I wasn’t–” the Kryptonian furrowed and shook her head.

“I’ll put a good word in for you,” the Green Lantern chuckled. “I’m sure I’ll see you around, Supergirl.”

“Wait, I have questions for you,” Supergirl followed as the other hero started to fly away. “What if I need to get in touch with you?”

“Can we do it another time? I have a very early morning, and it was a long night.”

“Do you live here? Do you anticipate staying around? Will you come meet the people at the DEO? They have questions.”

“Next time, Supergirl,” Green Lantern promised solemnly.

“Please.”

There were blue eyes, despite the darkness and the small glow of the city that didn’t betray much at that altitude. A look like that was a weakness the hero couldn’t afford at a time like this.

“Next time,” she promised. “Are you going to make me anchor you again? Or are you going to let me go in peace?”

To her credit, Kara considered it. Green Lantern hadn’t been seen often, in the city, she was a myth, and she knew Superman. Surely she could be trusted.

“Thanks again,” Supergirl nodded.

“Thank you for letting me go,” she returned politely.

“What are friends for?” 

“I guess we’ll find out,” Lena wagered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours of sleep and a sore, sore neck from sleeping on her couch because she couldn’t make it to the bed when she finally made it back to her apartment later, Lena found herself back at her desk in her nearly finished office, eagerly anticipating the end of the day.

Her headache grew from lack of sleep, from lack of eating, from lack of everything and having to wear heels at an ungodly hour. The brainpower she was able to harness, she found it spent daydreaming about the blue-eyed hero who smiled almost familiarly at her. The cousin had been particularly tight lipped about the heroine of National City, almost bothered by Lena knowing about her at all. She wasn’t sure how that factored into the entire equation.

But she was putting it all together. Slowly.

When she wondered out loud, she instantly regretted it.

“Monsters. Now you see why they have to be stopped,” Lex ranted as he and absently played with one of the knick knacks on a table. “They’re multiplying.”

The news played quietly on the wall, images of the giant fire playing on repeat throughout the morning.

“Supergirl saved a dozen people from a huge fire, and that new one, saved at least three times that,” Lena shook her head. “They seem terrible. Coming here and helping out to prevent tragedies. Why would we want people putting their lives on the line to help? What kind of example is that?” Her tone was snippy and agitated.

“And when they go rogue, when they decide to elevate themselves to the god status the idiots of this city have given them?”

“Maybe they won’t. Isn’t that the point?”

“The sooner you see that they must be stopped, the better you’ll be.”

“Why do you hate them?” she finally snapped, unable to do anything else.

Her brother stared back at her with complete shock, as if he couldn’t understand the question, as if it was self-evident, as if it was so obvious.

“You were locked in some school in the mountains of Kazakhstan when that… thing… tore apart half of the city.”

“One rogue alien condemning an entire class of people is like condemning all men as nothing but terrible, worthless things for the action of arguably more than a few.”

“You already condemn all men as nothing but terrible, worthless things,” he snorted.

“Yeah, but that’s just personal preference and good taste,” she snapped again. “Statistically, you’re more likely to be a terrorist than one of them.”

“The difference being I couldn’t enslave or destroy an entire planet.”

“Lex, can’t we just be done with this? They’re here. They’re beings with feelings and lives and families.”

“That one, that Superman, he killed our father. Why are they not held to the same standards that we are?”

“It’s too early for this,” Lena groaned.

“That new one has all kinds of technology. The pictures I was able to get shows this kind of force they use to help them.”

“You’re doing research on them?”

“How else are we to defend ourselves? Half of our budget is defense contracts to counteract them.”

“Enough, Lex.”

“How do you think we fund this?” he reared. “Your entire budget is supplemented in alien hunting and harnessing technology.”

“Please.”

“Do you think that you’re going to work here, and not support our initiatives, then perhaps we should rethin–”

“Sorry to interrupt,” a knock persisted in the middle of the sentence.

Despite the early hour, despite the secretary who tried to keep her at bay, the reporter appeared with a timid smile and hands full of cups and a bag. Lena stood automatically, for no reason at all, surprising herself as she looked down at her own knees, unsure of how she got standing.

A handful of meetings, a quick rough draft overview, and even two or three actual lunches where they didn’t talk about the article at all, it was still a surprise to see the reporter unannounced and there, so early. One that made Lena’s heart speed up a bit.

She got to know Kara. She got to learn to always order an extra piece of pie or two, that she was an absolute nerd when it came to certain topics, and that the stammering really was just a defense mechanism because her mouth moved entirely too slow or too fast for her brain, depending on the situation, and to see her stuck between the two was absolutely endearing.

Lena knew many facts now, about the CatCo reporter, and all of them were things she wished she could forget.

“Kara! It’s…” Lena furrowed and checked her watch. “We had a meeting today?”

“No, no. I, uh, saw the light on,” Kara smiled nervously, looking between the brother and sister. She’d heard he yelling, the whole way from the lobby, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Lex Luthor,” he stuck his hand out, interrupting the staring match that happened there.

Between them, Lena winced, but Kara just smiled at her, putting her at ease before juggling the items in her hand and shaking his hand.

“Kara Danvers.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he smiled in that way that was supposed to be disarming, and Kara could understand how it would be as such.

“Kara is writing an article for CatCo magazine,” Lena explained. “About me.”

“Really?” he smiled, his lips curling. “So early in the morning?”

“Oh, no, I, uh, I was just in the neighborhood,” she shrugged. There was a mix of almost fear and anger in her face.

Kara’s opinions on the Luthor family were not explicitly stated, though Lena was not nearly dumb enough to not pick up on the meaning of some of her lines. She could feel the issue as something important to Kara. This was not an introduction she wanted to happen, and in fact, for the first time that she could remember, Lena felt almost a brush of shame.

“Lex, I’ll see you later,” Lena pushed him out the door politely.

“I can’t wait to read that. I hope you’ll send over a copy as soon as you can,” he nodded to the reporter. “It would appear that I am being given the boot. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Danvers.”

With a small movement, Lena nodded and followed her brother toward the door, hurriedly whispering to him. Kara did her best not to listen, though she caught bits and pieces of how the older brother worried over the press, especially one floating around so early.

By the time Lena came back in, Kara was still holding all of the items, and the head of the Luthor foundation was struck by the primly dressed reporter. She paused for a moment to figure out if she was missing a meeting, to figure out who this girl was in her office with arms full of things that smelled good.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just–”

“In the neighborhood,” Lena supplied.

“You said you didn’t know anyone in town, and I remembered, two cream and one sugar,” Kara smiled eagerly. To Lena she was a puppy, all warm and sunshine and making her heart flip at the thoughtful gesture. “It’s not pie, but I thought maybe you wouldn’t be opposed to donuts.”

“Really?”

“What are friends for?” she smiled, quickly handing over a cup.

It was in that instant that Lena knew. As the perky ray of sunshine opened the bag after setting her own mug down on the desk and carefully offered it, Lena found herself struck, stark still and incapable of much thought. Barely could she take the cup of coffee, her eyes wide as it all clicked, right there, in that moment.

The eyes. The jaw. The hair. The nose. The lips. The face.

It was her.

“I mean, friends. We just met, but. Well. I don’t know. Our last few meetings just kind of end with us hanging out,” Kara explained. “I kind of just. My sister says I have a problem with befriending the unwilling. I… You seem like you could use to know someone.”

“Thank you,” Lena offered a smile, so very confused at the situation.

In all honesty, she’d just watched someone capable of turning a car into a pop can and snatching a bullet right out of the air shake hands with the man hellbent on wiping out her and her kind, and that was alarming. And she did it with a smile, all while balancing donuts brought out of the goodness of her heart to someone who she thought desperately needed it.

It was a dream. A sick dream.

“Do you have time to enjoy with me?”

“I do,” Lena sighed as she took a sprinkled, colorful donut. “Always time for my hero.”

“Your. Um. Great,” she blushed and chuckled.

That was it. Lena was a goner.

She took a seat on the couch and felt Kara follow her. She stifled a yawn into her mug and felt her headache disappear. The morning somehow came, and she was much more eager for the day with the newest addition of caffeine and Kara.

The reporter lamented the article slightly, claiming to have trouble saying the right things, condensing all they talked about, portraying her properly. Lena apologized for her brother again. She thought she might have two friends, and it turned out they were the same person.

“Am I that boring?” Kara asked, carefully cleaning up the breakfast that spilled out onto the coffee table.

“I’m sorry?”

“You keep yawning. Late night?”

“Putting out fires seems to take up a large portion of my life now.”

“What?” Kara’s eyes went wide.

“Between my brother, the company, my job,” Lena calmed her, it all making sense. “I don’t think I’ve slept for more than a few hours.”

“Sounds like you need a vacation.”

“If only.”

“It sounded like he wasn’t too excited about the newest addition to National City,” Kara asked, sneaking a glance.

“He’s never excited about anything,” Lena scoffed, carefully eating the last bit of her donut. “Especially the new hero.”

“What do you think?” Kara asked.

“The world could always use another helping hand I guess,” she shrugged. “What about you? Splitting your unwavering coverage of Supergirl with a new source?”

“To be determined.”

“Very diplomatic.”

Without the food and coffee to hide behind, Kara was unsure of her place in Lena’s office without a notebook to take notes down. Lena moved around her desk with a smile and wrote something down for herself, wanting very badly to pay Kara back for breakfast already.

“I’m trying to be an impartial reporter. It’s… I have strong feelings,” Kara nodded. “It’s harder than I expected.”

“Now that, I believe.”

The stare was a lot to survive under, but Kara managed, stalling as much as she could before she looked at her watch. Lena did her best to pull out parts of the Kryptonian behind the soft smile and glasses and stammering. It was almost impossible, but she knew better. She knew. She just knew, but had no proof at all. She knew. She had to know.

“I should get going.”

“Yeah, of course,” Lena smiled. “You have a very important article to write.”

“I’ll have the final copy on your desk by the end of the week, if that’s alright.”

“I’ll wait for the print, actually.” Surprised, Kara’s eyes flashed a bit of worry. “I trust you, Ms. Kara Danvers, my donut-wielding friend.”

“You do?”

“Of course,” she dismissed easily. “It’s not like someone would bring coffee to the person they’re writing a hatchet job on. Unless you are very much colder and more calculating than I’m giving you credit for.”

“Me? No. I don’t. I don’t think it’s. You never told me… anything that was. You aren’t… There are misconceptions, but I didn’t,” she shook her head vehemently. “I don’t think you are worthy of a hatchet job. You’re not… bad. You’re… noble.”

“Noble?”

“I don’t know,” Kara shrugged.

“Thank you for breakfast. I mean it.”

Kara shouldered her bag and fiddled with the strap with one hand, slightly anxious.

“Of course. We’re friends.”

The sweetness with which she said the words were so honest, were such a surprise, that she almost didn’t even see Lena’s tightness at the notion of such things. But those words, the way she said that word, further confirmed Lena’s suspicion.

“Have a good day, Kara.”

“You too,” she nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Exactly two months after the reporter walked into Lena Luthor’s office, the launch of her cover of CatCo magazine became the focal point of National City, before even one word of the article was read by a living soul. The entire club was filled with curious people, ready to welcome the newest, returning heir to the largest fortune in the country. Mysterious and still shy of the spotlight, the younger sister of Lex Luthor was the star of the night.

Or she would be, when she arrived.

Anxiously, Kara paced through the party, making small talk with colleagues, answering questions about the unseen article, catching herself staring at the beautiful girl on the cover who was her friend.

After she finished the article, there was a pause in which she was certain she would never see her again. Unable to come up with a fully justifiable excuse, Kara let herself get busy with her work, and her other work, and she tried to remember that she didn’t get to have a crush on this girl who just needed a friend. At the time, a new hero with a powerful ring kept her busy.

And then a green-eyed girl showed up at CatCo and asked her to lunch. They were friends, and so they hung out, they had lunch and coffee, and Kara realized more and more that Lena was more interesting than she’d anticipated.

There were movie nights and impromptu dinners and requests for quotes. There was Lena stiffening when she earned a hug. There were pie dates as they worked through the many flavors at the diner. There were texts and calls and a lot of laughing after particularly stressful days.

“Where’s your friend?” James asked, sliding up beside the reporter as she cradled her champagne and stared at the giant version of the cover on display. “This is all for her, right?”

“I texted, but no answer,” she smiled. “This is a really nice picture. You should look into that photography thing as a career.”

“I miss the world of nitty gritty photojournalism,” he nodded. “But something about a good subject is nice. She was different. Than I expected. Very polite, warm, friendly, I think even a little self-deprecatingly funny.”

“Yeah, she does that.”

“She’s going to miss her party. I read your article. It was… you did a great job on it. Fair and balanced, an interesting perspective on the mystery girl.”

“Toward the end, it was hard to be impartial. I really lik–”

“Did I miss anything?” Lena nearly skidded to a stop as she met the two standing there.

Hair slightly wispy and not quite as slicked back and composed as she normally was, though Kara couldn’t help but smile at just the sight of her. Her shoulders moved as she tried to catch her breath.

“No, no, nothing at all,” Kara hurried. “You look great. Late meeting?”

“Something like that,” she said, furrowing with a fake smile as she smoothed a dress. “Something came up across town. James, hello. It looks really nice.”

“I had a beautiful subject,” the photographer kissed her cheek.

“Lena, you’re–” Kara pointed slightly before looking around and gently tugging her elbow. “Excuse us,” James nodded as the two moved to the side. “Lena you’re bleeding?”

“What?”

Tucked into a corner, Kara snatched a napkin from the counter they hid in and pressed it against the cut on her neck. Much more than casually close, Kara peered at the skin, gently tilting Lena’s chin to the side.

“You must have scratched yourself with an earring or ring in your mad rush over,” she hummed, peering carefully and cleaning up the small dribble of blood.

Lena gulped, so deep she thought she might choke on herself, but the proximity was maddening and much too much for her already frazzled and battle-logged brain. She barely made it back on time from across the world where the League was encaged in a rather deep sea issue that needed resolving before the tides rose up and swallowed everyone, though Kara couldn’t know that. No one could know that.

But her run in with treacherous creatures from the depths of the ocean was nothing compared to the reporter who bit her lip and cleaned her up and liked to mock her while she worked on the junker of a car she tried to save.

Beneath her dress, her ribs were black and blue, her back was purpling. Make up hid many bruises on her eyes, but still. She refused to look at Kara.

“That must be it,” she nodded. “Thank you. My hero saves me yet again.”

“You’re a full time job, Luthor.”

“You have no idea,” she chuckled.

Tucked close together in the back corner, without any more blood to clean up, Kara was stuck looking at Lena’s eyes, stuck looking at her lips.

“Have you read it yet?” Kara shook her head and pulled away, adjusting her glasses. “I sent a copy to your office.”

“I actually was away all day,” Lena smiled painfully at the loss of proximity. “I’m sure it’s amazing. I mean. If it’s anywhere near as good as how amazing you look tonight. It’s a smash.”

“I’m. Me? No. This. You look…”

“Minus the blood.”

“Well, now that that’s taken care of,” Kara chuckled. “You really do look spectacular. You’re going to steal the show. I should, uh, I should let you get to it, actually.”

Before she could move too far, Kara felt a hand on her arm, a gentle tug, a pause until she was pulled back into the corner.

“We should get dinner or something this week. Just us. Like. At a restaurant or out, together.” There was a foreign nervousness to the request.

For a moment, Lena paused and wondered where the words came from, but decided it was pure adrenaline that guided and fueled her at that particular moment in time. She would have never asked, except Kara was like her, and Kara was so damn nice and understanding and pretty, and Kara was right there, smiling and unassuming and Lena felt so human and normal and most of all like herself, which was so unfamiliar it felt like breathing after holding her breath through a tunnel. Her life had been nothing but tunnel for so long, and the end was nice.

“We should.”

“Yeah?”

It was a different question than normal. Before, it was always, Would you like to eat? Or Maybe we should just go grab a bite. Or they just ended up ordering in. This felt new. For all its vagueness, it was very specific.

“Yeah,” the reporter nodded too eagerly, breathlessly, surprised.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Definitely,” she smiled. Kara made the fatal mistake of looking at Lena’s lips.

“Okay, perfect. I’ll call you.”

“Perfect.”

“Perfect.”

With a determined nod, the Luthor confidence was firmly in its place, and she gave Kara one final huge smile before reemerging to the party, freshly cleaned from blood and altogether presentable.

“What did I just do?” Kara sighed, leaning against the wall and furrowing a few seconds later.

Never had it been a thought to her that Lena Luthor would like her, would possibly share the same crush she harbored. And Kara was alright with that, because a friend like that was one in a million.

And then Lena did what she always did– she threw Supergirl for a loop.

 

xxxxxxxxxx

 

Even with the attack, even with her afternoon being interrupted and the stack of paperwork that awaited her back at the DEO, nothing could ruin the day that Kara Danvers was having, not one thing could cloud up the day.

Just after the cover party, Kara went to her office the following morning, only to find it filled to the brim with flowers. A single piece of blueberry pie sat on the desk with a note thanking her for the beautiful story, followed by the words Friday. Dinner. 7pm.

And it was Friday. And she was having dinner with the secretly large-hearted mechanical genius of a girl who was witty and dry and made her tongue not work in her mouth when she smiled. The woman who appeared out of nowhere, slipped into the city through the dark, and suddenly took up a large portion of Kara’s happiness. The woman who was simultaneously so full of joy and sorrow that it was innately human and wonderful and intoxicating. In all of her days, the hero hadn’t expected to find someone who knocked her down like that.

Carefully, Supergirl wiped her dirty hands on her thighs as she finished up the attackers.

“Long time, no see, Supergirl,” a voice, a newly familiar voice appeared. “You missed a few.”

A few men flopped to the ground, dropped a few feet through the air and angry.

“Thanks for your help.”

“Anything for a friend,” the masked hero almost taunted.

“Thanks for the invite to the Atlantean battle the other night, too.”

“Kind of League business,” Lena shrugged, her feet touching the ground finally. “It also came up kind of quickly. I’m sure you had other places to be anyway.”

“I’ve never even gotten to go to Atlantis,” Supergirl pouted angrily. “I’m going to talk to my cousin about this. I should be in the League before you. You just got here.”

“I trained for years to take up the mantle of Green Lantern,” she explained. “Kind of earn that spot automatically.”

“Still,” the caped hero put her hands on her hips, making a mental note to talk to Clark about the recent turn of events. It was no use protecting her, she was an adult, with her own city to protect, who had defeated many strong opponents. She could and should be a member of the League.

For a moment the two heros stayed there, looking at each other, squinting against the afternoon, sizing, wondering. The piles of bodies complained and moaned with new bruises and fresh wounds.

“No twenty questions for me today?” Lena cocked her head.

“I have somewhere to be. Maybe next time?”

“Good. I was afraid I’d have to make you a little cage or something to get away. Hot date, Supergirl?”

“I’m not… Um,” she shook her head. “I’m not actually sure.”

“You’re not sure?” she smiled, kicking a guy who tried to get up.

“I’m not sure it’s a hot date. I have somewhere to go, I’m just… It’s… complicated.”

“In my unsolicited opinion, if you like them, you should just ask them if it’s a date.”

It seemed like such an obscure thing to be talking about, as if they hadn’t just apprehended a well-trained team of thieves and were waiting for authorities to catch up to their moves. It felt like such a silly thing to be talking about with a stranger she barely knew. But here she was. There weren’t many options that wanted to hear about her crush on a Luthor anyway. She was desperate.

“I shouldn’t even be this far in,” Kara chuckled and shook her head, as if trying to get rid of the notion of crush and Lena from a singular thought. “People like us, we don’t get to have people to come home to, do we? I’ve tried, and it never seems to work out.”

Struck by the honest answer, Green Lantern chewed on the words and chided herself for not being her normal, pragmatic self. It was a hot date to her, but Supergirl was right, and she wasn’t supposed to want that.

She just wanted to tease Kara a little. She thought it was innocent, but it was too honest for that. 

“I want to believe we do get that,” she disagreed, her words heavier and more serious than either were accustomed. “But maybe all we get are friends. I’ve always been more of a loner myself in that department. Hadn’t thought of having someone to come home to regularly… ever I don’t think.”

“I want to believe that too,” Supergirl smiled, relieved at the idea and hope.

“You must like them though, to be nervous,” Lena tried.

“I do,” Kara confessed.

“I should let you get go–” From across the city, gun shots could be heard. “Go on,” she shook her head. “I’ll take care of whatever it is. You have a date.”

“No, I couldn’t. I’ll come. It’s my job.”

“Go figure out if it’s a date,” Lena hovered slightly. As soon as Kara tried to move, she felt the shackle around her ankle. “You deserve someone to come home to, even if this person isn’t it.”

“You’ve got to stop doing this!” With little success, despite her strength and speed, Kara was no match for the weight that kept her ankles locked and stationed to the ground.

“Take a night off, Supergirl,” she called with a smile. “We all have our places. It’s for the best anyway.”

 

xxxxxxxxxx

 

Radio silence. Busy schedule. Vague emails. Cold Shoulder. Headlines with a certain Luthor at the root of them yet again.

Kara waited for an hour at the restaurant before packing it in. She sent three texts and called twice. It might not have been a hot date like she thought it might have been, she realized. Her words in her own head echoed around, that she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up, that she didn’t get someone to come home to. That was the life she signed up for.

It still hurt though.

And when she didn’t hear from Lena the following day, she shook it off as a fluke. When Lena avoided her about a quote about what her brother was spouting, Kara took it as blood protecting blood. But texts went unanswered. And calls weren’t returned. It was enough to drive her crazy with wondering what happened between flowers and a complete attempt at avoidance.

After a second week, it was too much to handle, and so Kara found herself marching through the empty halls of an afterhours LexCorp with little in terms of forethought and much in the way of pure hurt.

“Kara!” Lena stood up quickly, slamming shut her laptop at the intrusion. She thought she was alone. She thought she was free to do her freelancing.

“I’m sorry to just barge in. I don’t want to interrupt.”

“Unfortunately, I was just on my way out.”

“I just need a few moments of your time,” she swallowed, losing the gall she found in the elevator. “Please, Lena.”

It was a losing battle, and so Lena finally clenched her jaw and nodded, allowing Kara completely into the office, to take those last few steps she didn’t allow herself at first.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I’ve been busy,” she offered, holding up a bottle as she moved to the table by the television. She poured for herself and watched Kara try to find words. “Plus my brother. The company. I just… Things got all out of whack.”

“I get it. I just thought we were friends.”

“Me too,” Lena muttered into her glass.

“I know I was writing an article, and I know we’ve hung out. I like hanging out with you, Lena. Can’t we be friends? I don’t care about the Luthor nonsense. You know that.”

“I don’t think so, Kara,” Lena admitted. She saw Kara’s face fall at the news. “I thought we could, but it’s dangerous. I’m me. I have things I have to do.”

“You asked me out.”

“I wanted to thank you for your kind words.”

“Lena.”

“We’re strangers.”

“We’re not,” Kara protested. “I know you. I think we hang out more than I see my other friends. Almost as much as my sister. That’s something.”

“We don’t know each other.”

“We do. If you don’t want to be friends, I guess I can’t make you–”

“I don’t want to be your friend. I want to kiss you so much I can’t be alone with you, but I’m afraid that if I start, I won’t ever stop, and that’s something that someone like me just can’t think.”

To her credit, Kara didn’t flinch at the news, though her eyes betrayed the shock of it. Everything about Lena was a red flag, but in a good way. Every part of her, the known and unknown, the honest and the funny and the passionate and the smart, it was all warnings that Kara was much too deep in it.

With a sigh, Lena set her glass on the desk. She couldn’t say it. She wished she could, just blurt out right there that there were parts of her that would always stay a secret and that was too much for someone to have to bear. Instead, she waited for Kara to leave.

“Someone like you?”

“Do you ever feel like you were made to do something that just takes over your entire life? Eats up every part of you and leaves nothing else? You’re just along for the ride.”

“Often,” Kara confessed.

“Someone like me,” Lena repeated quietly. “That was what you said. Maybe people like us don’t get people to come home to.”

“I said that?”

Furrowed and not sure, it dawned on her right there, right in the office that she first walked into months ago while it was half torn apart and studs. Her eyes snapped to the head of the Foundation and she watched her toy with the ring on her finger.

“We don’t know each other,” Lena repeated her words with a sigh. “From the very start, we were doomed.”

“No. No way,” she shook her head. “There’s no way.”

“You think you’re the only one allowed a double life?”

“I don’t. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

With one final moment to reconsider, with the words her brother had been spouting, with the activities of the League fresh in her achy muscles, Lena didn’t have a defense against herself or the girl with eyes that were like those flowers she loved.

“We aren’t the type of people who have people to come home to,” Lena repeated. “I thought about that a lot. I stood outside of the restaurant and watched you wait for me and deep down I knew it would just hurt us both if I walked in, so I left.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t get someone. My parents died fighting beside each other. Your planet died. I fought beside people who did nothing but want to help, and they died. You and I are in a line of work that is not only unforgiving, but has a survival rate of none.”

“You have to say it,” Kara said, calm and angry, her fists balled up, her eyes staring daggers at Lena, not willing herself to allow it to happen.

“You lied to me, too, Supergirl.”

“To protect you.”

“Then you understand.”

“You have to say it,” she repeated.

Lena took the last sip of her vodka before allowing herself a deep breath. A second later, she was the Green Lantern, alive and in the flesh, exposed once more.

It all made sense. As often as Kara had to run off to do things, so, too did Lena. There were long, unexpected trips that coincided with stories she heard from her cousin. There were bruises sometimes. There was technology and intel that no one else should have known that slipped out during lunches. There was that ring that flew up red flags the first time they met, but Kara put aside.

“You don’t have to say the oath. I thought you did,” Kara shook her head.

“That’s a myth.”

The suit disappeared a second later, and Lena Luthor, the girl who liked the feeling of grease on her hands and swore like a sailor when she worked on her car, reappeared with the same austere emotionlessness.

Unable to think much, Kara flopped down on the couch and stared at the floor while her hands steepled and hid her lips. Lena sighed and moved to fill up her cup again, knowing full well that if Kara was sitting, it was going to be a longer night than anticipated.

Half of her hoped the hero would just bolt, run away and never come back. That would have been simple. They could have divided the city or something, right down the middle. Lena could have even moved. She was excellent at disappearing.

With another sip of her newly freshened glass, Lena leaned against her desk and fiddled with her ring, waiting for Supergirl to interrupt her own thoughts and say something, though nothing came. All she saw was thoughts wrestling around behind those useless glasses.

“Who knows?” Kara finally asked, refusing to look up.

“Who knows that I’m Green Lantern?”

“Yes.”

“Um, well there’s you, and Superman, and Batman, and you, and Wonder Woman. Did I mention you? Probably Aquaman. I mean, he knows who I am, but we didn’t have time to be formally introduced the oth–”

“This isn’t funny, Lena.”

“You’re right,” she snapped defensively. “But here we are, stuck in one big cosmic joke. Do you know how bummed I was when I thought I had two friends, and instead it was just one?”

That was it. That was the ticket to make Kara look at her again. Blue eyes snapped to her own and scowled.

“How did you know?”

“Only Kara Danvers would call a complete stranger a friend.”

“I’m being serious, Lena.”

“The glasses don’t fool me. You can wear all the cardigans you want, but arms and, frankly, lips and an ass like that, are unforget–”

“I’m being serious,” Kara interrupted again, shaking her head at the sideways compliment. “This isn’t… this isn’t funny. This isn’t a joke. This is my life, this is.. I thought… This was supposed. You can’t just. There’s going to be so much paperwork.”

“Best part of being an Intergalactic sheriff? No paperwork.”

“Bully for you,” she glowered.

After her second glass of vodka, Lena felt extra feisty, extra ready for a night of misery and once again that feeling of isolation and loneliness that came with her existence as an automatic preset. She was eager for it to start and for Kara to leave because the embodiment of sunshine was not conducive to feeling like garbage.

“Why did you ask me out if you already knew who I was?” Kara finally asked, the hurt seeping into the syllables despite herself.

“Why did you agree if you thought you didn’t deserve someone to come home to?”

It had more bite than Kara deserved, but Lena couldn’t help herself. She had a natural form of self-preservation in the form of verbal quills or word-laced venom. It kept her alive and her heart relatively whole, though it was tiny and shrivelled and barely beating in that dungeon she called a reality.

“I think our answers are probably the same.”

“My answer was the same as to how I knew it was you– ass and lips.”

“No it wasn’t,” Kara sighed, pushing herself up from the couch.

“I’m okay with that being your reason,” Lena shrugged, toying with her ring a little more. It was better than fixing her feelings. “I’m proud of my ass. It’s terrifying seeing yourself in a skintight outfit.”

“You asked because you don’t believe what I said.”

Lena clenched her jaw and smirked, though reaching for her glass and taking the last of the clear liquid was enough of a verification that Kara needed. With a small nod to herself, Kara adjusted the bag on her shoulder and put the lid on the vodka before picking up the coat that hung by the door.

From the edge of the desk, Lena watched the girl move through her office and hold up the coat expectantly.

“Come on. I’m still hungry, and you owe me one hell of a dinner and explanation.”

“What?”

“You stood me up for dinner, and I’m giving you a chance to fix it, Luthor. Keep up.”

“Did you not just realize the whole magic ring thing? Or does the alien-hating brother thing do it for you? Maybe it’s the me knowing your secret identity and you think I’ll tell thing? But we just went over why I didn’t ask you out.”

“It’s actually this entire I-don’t-care demeanor that hides a very wounded, very scared, very lonely soft, nougaty center that’s my favorite thing,” Kara smiled, jostling her right back as she shook the coat impatiently.

“But it’s kind of my ass though, right?”

“Lena.”

“For my ego, just say it,” she relented, shoving off of the desk and moving toward the coat.

“Will you let me try your ring?”

“Sure. It won’t work for you, but sure.”

Flipping her hair up, Lena adjusted her jacket once it was on and turned toward the other hero, generally concerned and very confused as to how her night turned to this. She was ready for the leaving, that was why she preemptively left. This was all foreign and she couldn’t do much but hold on tight. No amount of training prepared her for human interaction or proper handling of feelings.

“When I said that, it wasn’t because I thought that was true. Just that… I don’t know. I was very afraid of something that was very good and had so much potential that I could easily ruin it by… you know. Being me. Being… Supergirl.”

“I always thought your words, though it was as a Luthor. No one wants to come home to that.”

“Hasn’t bothered me yet.”

The proximity was accidental. Lena didn’t mean to stay there, and Kara didn’t mean to stand taller and step closer. But there they stood in the quiet of the office as the sun set for the evening behind the skyline. Lena wanted to apologize or say something else. Kara wanted to ask a million questions and be more angry than herself and Lena’s eyes allowed. Both swallowed their individual disappointment in their own growth as humans and weakness for each other.

“Dinner, you said?” Lena asked after clearing her throat and shifting to open the door.

“A hot date that was running late,” Kara nodded.

“It’s not a date.”

“Date,” she smiled, waving goodbye to the receptionist.

“It’s not a date,” Lena repeated, insisting it to Jess.

“Mostly a date,” Kara tried, pushing the button for the elevator.

“Not at all.”

The light wall climbed as the elevator raced toward them. Kara smiled at her friend, oddly relieved to not have to hide anymore, oddly relieved to learn her own secret. It made sense. She was more mad that she didn’t take the time to figure it out herself. She was more mad that she let Lena feel that hurt.

“Is this a date?”

When the elevator dinged, both stood there and waited. Lena remembered what she’d said, remembered Kara’s eyes and how smiley she could get.

“Yes, okay? Goodness. It’s a date. It was a date.”

Smiling triumphantly, Kara stepped inside and pressed the button, holding the door open. Lena sighed, heavy and long while ducking her head to look at her shoes and try to get a grip on herself.

“Your butt is very nice,” Kara finally relented. “Very, very… Nice. Better than nice.”

Lena’s shoulders shuffled with a stifled laugh before she finally lifted her head and followed her hero into the elevator.


	4. Chapter 4

Exhausted. Just plain exhausted. So tired, in fact, that the idea of moving even to breathe was unappealing. That kind of exhaustion that gnaws like a mangy dog on a splotchy, bony leg, never relenting to the lazy grinding of muscles and bones. The kind of tired that settles deep within the brain, that lives there like the last living human attempting to keep the lights on, frantically flipping levers and hoping it will help while alarms flash and all functionality is reduced to those for survival.

The trip back to Oa was supposed to be a few days, at most. A quick recharge and report back with her first few months in the sector. That was it. Strictly procedural and boring, even.

It turned into an all out prisoner revolt that she cursed herself for wasting vacation days on.

But still, the tired was there and for better or worse, it felt… good. Lena loved that feeling. She learned to, at least, during her training, during the War for Oa. She learned what real tired was, to be afraid to sleep, to be vigilant, to be ready to attack and always on edge. That was tired beyond repair. This tired, the one that made her collapse on her couch and not even have the energy to lift her hand and have her ring change her back to her normal clothes, it was the sore kind of tired from a long fight worth having.

For too long, Lena sat on her couch, head tilted back and staring at the ceiling while she tried to put in some sort of order, the events from the past few days. She was certain she’d win the award for best use of power when she chased a few escaped prisoners down a hallway with the manifestation of a lion, roaring and baring its teeth at them. That thought made her smile.

With a deep breath, she willed herself to open her eyes. If she could do that, then she could stand. It took a few moments to prepare, but she did. A few deep breaths and a lot of mental cheering later, she placed her hands on her knees and pushed herself up.

“There we go,” she muttered to herself, stretching out some of the accumulated soreness.

She elected to shower over eating, though the choice was tough. The water hurt, but in that delicious– and delicious is the only way to describe such a feeling– kind of sore way.

But by the time she emerged, making her way toward the kitchen while toweling her hair, she realized she’d made the right call.

“Hi,” Kara smiled softly as she opened a few boxes of take out. “The door was open, and I knew you’d be back tonight, so I thought I’d beat you and surprise you, but there was an accident out on 30, and I got stuck doing paperwork, but I planned on being here before you got– what’s that?”

In the middle of her explanation, in the middle of her worrying about not being there soon enough, about failing to execute her plan well, about being nervous that she was crossing an ill-defined line, Kara looked at Lena and it didn’t help. She lingered over jaw and eyes that shined with amusement. And she realized how much she’d missed the other hero after just a few days, and that was a lot, but not really a surprise.

In the middle of her diatribe about being a good date and failing, she saw the bruises peeking out from beneath Lena’s old shirt. The hole at the collar revealed purple on the porcelain skin.

“Just my towel,” Lena shrugged as Kara furrowed and approached.

“No, this,” she murmured, unamused.

Hands moved along the bruises. Lena tilted her head and let her look.

“My visit got a little un-routine. I’m fine,” she shrugged. “You should see the other guy. I used my ring to make a lion. It was pretty cool.”

“You were just going to recharge and check in.”

Kara’s hands moved as she stepped back just enough to lift the edge of Lena’s shirt. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the galaxy of bruises forming on her ribs. And then it hit her. She was staring at Lena’s ribs, and she gulped before her hands were swatted away.

“I didn’t plan a prison riot. Believe me. I was looking forward to catching up with a few friends, because I actually have friends there, and there was going to be a Test for initiates for us to watch. But so it goes.”

For a moment, Kara debated what to do. She very much wanted to have an opinion. Seeing someone else with bruises was new to her, and did nothing to stifle the urge she felt to fight back against whatever caused them. But Lena was capable and she was strong and, weirdly enough, Kara wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about it all

Lena furrowed and followed Kara’s eyes as she paused, stared at her own ribs, gingerly pressing against them.

“Come sit,” Supergirl finally relented. “I’ll get you some ice. It’ll keep the swelling down.”

“You’re awfully bossy for a third date.”

“This isn’t a date. It’s…” she waved her hand absently as she dug in the freezer for something cold. “I brought you dinner. That’s all.”

“You brought food to my house, late at night. I’m scantily clad, and you’re not in uniform,” Lena teased, surveying the food, getting her fifth or sixth wind with the addition of a pretty reporter in her kitchen. “You came for something not G-rated.”

All she earned in response was a snort, but Lena smiled victoriously as Kara doted and moved toward the table, a towel filled with ice cubes in her hands. Gingerly, Kara lifted the shirt again and pressed the bundle there as she sat beside the girl who picked at the take out box with her fingers and smiled, self-satisfied at her own ideas.

“I missed you,” Kara finally shrugged. “I’m not used to seeing someone beat up and not being able to help. It’s weird to date– to be. You know. It’s weird to be near someone who doesn’t need me to be their hero.”

“You’re still my hero, Supergirl.”

“Stop,” she rolled her eyes despite her blush. 

They were coy and close and there was nothing else they wanted to be. Gone was the need for subtlety, gone was every other facet of themselves. It felt good to be honest and raw.

“So the second date went well,” Lena ventured, unable to handle the stillness and ease. “Because there was a moment…”

Without meaning to, their voices lowered. Both looked at each other and couldn’t unlock themselves from the staring match. Kara leaned forward slightly and cleared her throat as she looked back down at the bruises and ice, careful to keep them covered.

“It went well.”

“I thought it might not have,” the wounded party continued. “Because there was a moment. Do you remember? You were going to kiss me, and then you didn’t.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kara swallowed and tried to change the subject. “I don’t see anything broken. You’re lucky though.”

“Why didn’t you kiss me?”

“Because you’re… you’re… you’re… I got in my head and I just… You’re someone I want around in a new way. I’m not used to feeling like this, and so I chickened out. Stop smiling.”

“I’m not,” Lena shook her head and attempted to stifle it.

“I mean it. Don’t laugh.”

“Kara, I’m sorry. I’m not,” she promised and grabbed at the hands of the girl that tried to stand up but let herself be pulled back down.

The ache made itself known right in the tired part of her muscles. In the morning, the galaxy on her body would be nearly gone, but the hurt would linger a bit on her bones. None of it mattered too much. Everything took a backseat to a bashful Kara.

“I thought I read it wrong,” Lena explained, sitting up a bit straighter and pulling herself toward Kara. She didn’t let go of her hands. “I thought maybe a Super wouldn’t want a Luth–”

“Please don’t,” she sighed, shaking her head. “That’s stupid. You’re a genius. You can’t believe that.”

“Old habits.”

“You just… you’re so cool and calm and you know what to do and say–”

“Not around you, I don’t. Not for real,” Lena promised. “We were always taught to conceal. I guess I mask my nerves with this… confidence. If I keep everything at arm’s length, nothing can touch me. I’m trying not to, though. I met you and I just… I’m not the same girl that left Earth four years ago.”

Of the scariest moments of her life, none felt as real or as honest as the one she found herself locked in at present. Kara pushed up the edge of her glasses and took a deep breath. When she was six, she touched the sacred rings at her parent’s rebirth ceremony. She remembered how her hands sweat and she got that rush of pure living. When she was thirteen and walking into her first human class, every eye was on her and it was deafening. Just last year, she faced all manner of beasts and always felt that human itch of fear.

None of it, not stealth, not nerves, not a battle to the death could compare to Lena Luthor.

And so she kissed her. Jumped right in, held her breath, felt every muscle in her body tense, though nothing stopped her at all. She leaned forward quickly and she cupped Lena’s cheek, and she kissed her quickly, or tried. As soon as her lips touched, time stopped. It stopped for the entire universe, she was certain.

Startled at first by the daring move, Lena instantly relaxed as soon as she felt the anxiety. It happened so quickly, she almost would have missed it, save for the whole time freezing thing. Kara’s hand was warm on her cheek. The ice dropped a little in her hand, resting on the chair now to brace herself. Nothing stopped the hero from kissing with all of her might.

“Wow,” Lena whispered, eyes still shut, though wide, as Kara finally pulled away an inch. Her shoulders sagged with a let out breath.

“Yeah,” Kara nodded, smiling nervously.

“So you did come over to take advantage of me.”

Despite herself, Kara laughed and found herself captivated by Lena’s smile. Hands moved to her hips while her own moved to Lena’s neck.

“Put that back on,” she rolled her eyes and helped re-place the ice pack. “I came over to feed you, and that was it.”

“Sure.”

“It was an okay second date,” Kara shrugged, pulling away.

Both were still all smiles. Both were rosy cheeked and oddly out of breath at the kiss that could only be described as detrimental to their survival, because now that they knew what it was like, they needed nothing else to subsist.

“Maybe we do get people to come home to,” Lena realized, remembering Kara’s greatest fear.

Kara didn’t flinch. Instead, she took the hope there and ran her hand along Lena’s forearm.

“Even if they run late,” Kara agreed.

* * *

Kara never knew Lena Luthor before she was Green Lantern. She never knew about the little girl who ended up on a stranger’s doorstep, nor about the money she blew through while ‘discovering herself.’ Kara saw pictures though, and heard about the girl who set an entire lab on fire at MIT just for science. She saw and read and she wondered how in the world someone could change so much, and secretly, how someone who was like that, could earn the mantle she had taken.

And then she would see Lena in the present, and she just knew. None of the rest of it mattered.

Somehow, the rambunctious scamp of an entitled heiress grew into her life. It was right there in her work ethic, and it was right there in the stories she wouldn’t tell. Kara lost her breath when Lena looked up from her desk when she entered, and for the tiniest of moments, the Kryptonian wondered if she’d be this crazy about the girl Lena was, or all of life was about timing.

“Hey, Kara, what… we didn’t have anything–”

“No, no, don’t worry,” she hurried to stop the worrying that was now forming in Lena’s eyebrows. “I was um. I was just in the neighborhood.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Yeah,” she blushed and nodded, taking a few more steps inside as Lena leaned back in her chair and watched it happen.

Suddenly, the charity event next month was much less interesting than the reporter who nervously appeared at her office door.

“I. We’ve been busy,” Kara started again. “I had something’s come up. I wasn’t avoiding you. And I think your message said something about–”

“Yeah, Stogilt smugglers running slaves in quadrant three,” she nodded. “I wasn’t avoiding you either, my partner needed a little back up.”

“No, yeah, completely understandable,” she nodded quickly. “It’s just. We, um. You know. Last time.”

“Last time?”

“Yeah, you know. Last time. You… I brought dinner, and you were wearing… nothing much, actually. And then we. You know. That thing. With the–”

“Sex, Kara. We had sex,” Lena supplied, earning the best kind of blush imaginable. She was quite sure she’d ever seen anyone turn that bright red so quickly.

“That. Yes. That. We did, um. That.” Frantically hands sought something to do, pushing up her glasses anxiously and clearing her throat. Her eyes couldn’t meet the young executives. That would be too much at the moment.

With a small sigh, Lena capped her pen and sat it down gently before pushing herself up out of her chair. Her visitor refused to move or watch, and Lena had her fun for the day. Now she felt just bad about it. Very good, but very bad.

“It was a good night, right?” she ventured, her voice low and soothing.

Without meaning to, she slid her hand along Kara’s forearm, feeling her relax from the boulder-like rigidity the mention of sex had her occupying. The hero finally let out a breath.

“Yeah, it was a great night,” Kara promised. “I just… I just got back, and I didn’t want to just text. It felt… I don’t know. Anyway. I’m here because. I don’t know. Just to say hi.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Neither had much else to say. Kara certainly couldn’t because there were hands on her hands and Lena looked absolutely mesmerizing in dark blue. She was almost certain it didn’t matter the color. The woman would knock her out. But she was well ready for the testing of the entire rainbow.

“How was the Fortress?”

“You knew?”

“Kryptonian holy holidays?” Lena cocked her head. “I think you’re forgetting that I’m an intergalactic agent, Ms. Danvers. It was assigned reading to learn about as many cultures as we could.”

There was a soft kind of smile that came when Kara realized that she didn’t have to explain everything to the girl that was currently straightening her collar, dangerously close to the skin of her neck, because that girl already knew much more than anyone could guess. There was something different in not having to explain, for once, that was awfully addicting.

Instead of thinking about it exactly, Kara tilted her chin while Lena fret with a button and edge of collar.

“It was a nice little break. Nice to remember the rituals,” Kara smiled. She grew brave and let her eyes move down to her hands that moved to hips. “You look very nice today. Every day. Today too.”

“Thank you.” Lena spread her hands flat along Kara’s shoulders under the pretence of fixing the already impeccable shirt.

“How are the smugglers?”

“Cozy in their new beds in prison. Nothing too hard. Barely broke a sweat.”

“See, when I say things like that, usually it means it got out of hand.”

It was Kara’s turn to cock her head this time, appraising the mischievous grin of the girl who suddenly was in her arms. Lena gave nothing away, except that damn sideways grin that looked like it’d be the textbook definition of trouble.

“You look less bruised than last time I saw you,” she observed.

“All of that nursing you did really helped. I’ll have to keep you on retainer for future ”

“I’m a helpful person,” Kara shrugged. “Maybe tonight we coul–”

“Lena! I have it figured out, and you have to– What are you doing?” Lex’s voice boomed as the door flew open. In a second, his long strides brought him nearly running into the pair who were oddly close, oddly touching, much more than friendishly standing there in the early afternoon.

Despite the heightened reactions and ridiculous reflexes, neither could move apart quickly enough, but when the world caught up with her, Kara took a step back and cleared her throat slightly.

“I think we’ve talked about knocking,” she complained, a different, calm facade appearing in place of what felt like natural fun when it was just the two of them.

“I think I have to, now,” he shook his head. “Lex Luthor.”

“Kara,” the reporter shook his hand once again despite already being introduced.

Just as Kara had witnessed Lena’s mask appear, so too, did Lena watch Kara become a different person around her brother, though she understood why. If only her brother could know that he was shaking the hand of what he feared the most. If only he could know that Lena had a ring that generated force and frequently flew to unexplored parts of the galaxy.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“That’s why you should knock,” Lena reminded him.

“Right, sorry. I need a minute, when you get a chance.”

Kara watched the two argue silently, and despite the fact that she was currently investigating the CEO for his attempts on her entire being, she saw bits of herself and her sister in the hidden sibling language.

“It was nice to meet you, Kara,” he offered with a curt smile and nod as he gave his sister a glance and made his way back toward the door.

Even after it shut, they were quiet. Even after it shut and he was gone, they remained farther apart and afraid to touch.

“So you were going to make plans for us tonight,” Lena offered.

Anytime Kara was reminded that she was a Luthor, she grew nervous. It wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t necessarily the aphrodisiac she thought would work.

“Was I?”

“Oh yes. You were about to invite me to dinner or something, but really you just wanted to get me out of this dress.”

“I said I was sorry about the last one,” Kara half-whined, earning a chuckle.

“I apparently have a meeting upstairs. But maybe you want to come by later?”

“Yeah, definitely,” she nodded eagerly. Kara grinned, still blown away that a girl wearing a dress like that wanted to spend time with her.

“Good,” Lena decided.

“Good,” Kara echoed.

* * *

The hardest part was going to be telling the League. Lena already knew that. Specifically, telling one of the head honchos. Specifically a man who could shoot lasers out of his eyes and had a soft spot for the nerdy reporter who brought Lena lots of snacks.

“How often do you think we’ll get this lucky?” Kara whispered, stretching on the pile of pillows currently taking up much of Lena’s balcony.

“Hm?”

“You’re a million miles away,” she sighed, shifting hips. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Lena shrugged. “Just thinking about telling your cousin about our little… extracurriculars.”

“That worries you more than your brother?”

“Lex?” she chuckled. “He already knows and doesn’t care. He’s been so busy lately. I haven’t even seen him in about three weeks.”

Kara shifted even closer, leaning over the girl in the pillows. She kissed her, soft and sweet, just because she could, because it was that easy, because neither cared to do anything else when they got the chance.

“And what are you going to tell my cousin?”

Lena ran her hand along Kara’s ribs, along her hips, squeezed as a thigh slid between her own legs. She smiled to earn that little reaction.

“I was kind of hoping he’d just figure it out if I dropped enough hints. But he keeps saying he’s glad someone’s watching you.”

“That’s us. Just pals.”

“Shut it,” Lena rolled her eyes and tugged the hero’s neck.

Languidly, she kissed Kara. She felt strong hands on her ribs. She felt warm lips move to her jaw and her heart skipped. Nothing got old about it. Back home for less than six months, and she couldn’t have felt more new.

“I’ll tell him,” Kara finally sighed, her head growing dizzy with the kisses. Her hip moved despite her pause.

“No, no. I will. It’s nothing. I just. When I tell him,” Lena swallowed. “I want to tell him how serious I am about you.”

Kara knit their fingers together. She twirled the ring that rested there, playing with the emblem that Lena loved.

“Oh,” she swallowed and furrowed.

“I just mean. You know. I could be very happy with you, and I… I would tell him that. Which will be weird, considering we mostly talk about crime.”

“You don’t have to tell him, you know.”

“I do,” Lena nodded. “This isn’t something to hide. For the first time… in my life, actually, things just feel good.”

Kara couldn’t help it, the little excitement that ran through her at the words. She kissed Lena again, because she was a girl that needed kissed like that, often and well and hard and until breathless.

Late as it was, the city wasn’t quiet. Down below, on the other side of the ledge, they could hear the world happening, and for once, neither cared about any of it.

Lena tasted like cinnamon. Sugar, too. She had this warmth to her kiss in that she was needy, and perhaps that was who she was. She tugged, constantly. Kara was still and calm; Lena was flitty, she was touching everywhere, making sure it was real. It was an experience Kara enjoyed, to feel herself be tugged at in different ways every time they got time to themselves.

“Go be super fast and circle the earth and make this night never end,” Lena finally murmured as she settled against Kara’s shoulder.

“I’m not allowed,” Kara pouted.

“We’ll just have to have more nights like this then.”

“Making out on your balcony?”

“Not fighting any villains or savings damsels. It’s nice to be normal.”

“Didn’t I see you wield a green machine gun spawned from a magic alien ring not twelve hours ago?”

“Shh, honey, don’t ruin the moment.”

* * *

Three days of business with the League for an even that would never make the news, thanks to their intervening, and Lena was absolutely itching to get back to her city, to get back to her… girlfriend? That was a weird word for her. Foreign, even, but she embraced it as well as she could.

The word itself ponged back and forth in her brain as she soared above the city, finally able to think of things other than impending crises and staying alive. It was Kara that said it first. RIght there in the middle of the day, for all to hear when Lena met her at her office for lunch. For a moment, Lena snapped back, confused and wondering who the reporter who could be found with her head between the CEO’s thighs on a semi-, though not often enough in her personal opinion, regular basis. But Kara was introducing her to her friends, and Lena smiled and shook their hands politely. It was her the word was referencing, for the first time in her life.

Lex said it the second time, asking when Kara was going to be arriving. Again, upon hearing the word, Lena had to pause to think of who it was referring. But he asked when her girlfriend was picking her up for their dinner date, and Kara was the one getting her dinner, so it had to be here. Right?

The word happened, and Lena waited for things to change, but not one thing did.

A small ball of fire caught her eye as she pondered a single word once again. In an instant she veered towards it.

“Just stop, and I won’t hurt you.”

The voice was familiar, and though the fire was burning what looked like an old warehouse on the pier, everything was under control when Lena landed. Three men were groaning on the ground while Supergirl spoke toward some hidden in the building.

A shot rang out as Lena took a seat on a bench just behind the action, crossing her legs nonchalantly as if she were waiting for a bus. A body slumped beside her, already attempting a go at the Kryptonian and failing.

The bullet dropped to the ground from Kara’s fist, having caught it.

“Come out now and end this. The police will be here soon,” Kara yelled. “And I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Did you see that?” Lena sat on a bench beside an unconscious assailant, head lulled to the side. “That’s my girlfriend. Isn’t she great?”

She got no answer but smiled to herself as she watched.

Not a few seconds after the warning was issued, the full doors were broken open as a huge creature sprinted outside, eyes locked on the caped hero. Lena tensed and stood, ready to jump in when needed.

After a prolonged wrestle, Kara ended up atop the snarling creature. Only then did she notice the newest hero to the fray.

“Hey, you’re back,” she breathed, smile all sunshine and warmth, even with a creature attempting to overpower her on the pier.

“Hi darling. I was on my way home and heard a commotion. Don’t let me interrupt.”

“I’m almost done,” she grunted, rolling over and further twisting an appendage. “Did you eat?”

“I’m starving.”

“Just… a second,” she grunted, taking off in a flash, leaving nothing but a breeze behind.

Sitting back down, Lena leaned back, arms spread wide and amused at the display. The man beside her just grunted and didn’t move much more.

“I love this. She’s going to make a pretty big pot hole, but still. So cool.” As soon as the words were done, the impact happened, dust spilled up and for a moment, obscured the field. “See,” she patted his chest. “I told you.”

The only thing to leave the crater was a widely smiling hero who rubbed at the dirt on her chin and tried to make herself presentable for the onlooker. Even in her costume, Kara was uniquely Kara, if anyone were to look close enough. Two very distinct personalities, but still, very much her own.

“Mutant gorillas? That’s what your business trip was about?” she asked, hands on her hips when she finally came to a stop. “I really have to see if my membership to the League can be picked up. That sounds like so much fun.”

“It was… something,” Lena acquiesced. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

“I want to hear about it tonight.”

“I have plans tonight,” she grinned.

“Stop monkeying around,” Kara scolded with a sly smile.

They hovered close, orbited and tried to avoid touching. There was something about being out in public as their alter egos. They couldn’t do it. Of course, they more than made up for it as their normal selves, frequently photographed holding hands and kissing, sneaking grabs and make outs where possible and generally being over the moon about the other.

“How many of those did you come up with when you heard about the mission?”

“Not many. I don’t like to joke about monkey business.”

Lena fell in love with her right there, unable to stifle her own giggle from her own enjoyment of her own stupid pun. Carefree, so ferociously so and so devastatingly joyful, it was everything.

“Very funny. Are you all done here?”

“I’m done,” she smiled, indicating that she clearly wasn’t. Lena groaned. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you round up Furious George?”

“You’re a riot, Supergirl,” Lena deadpanned.

“Did you find him in the Banana Republic?”

“You get one more,” she warned as the sirens approached.

For a moment, Kara considered it hard.

“I think that was it.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I should ape-haul-o-gize for not being a prime-mate to you.”

“This is why your League application is taking so long,” Lena grunted, jumping and hovering, leaving the other hero to clean up her own mess. “I’ll see you at yours in an hour?”

“That sounds very appealing.”

“This is exactly the reason people think a Luthor and Super could never work together.”


	5. Chapter 5

Lena Luthor was beautiful in anything and it was absolutely maddening to Supergirl. It didn’t make the talking or the focusing thing any more easy around her. The Lena who wore the pencil skirts and pushed up her sleeves at work, with the shirts and the collars and the neck and the jaw, well, that played into some fantasies Kara never knew existed in her own mind. It made work lunches especially daunting, but she persisted.

The Lena who wore the expensive yoga pants and got sweaty in the gym or while sparring, well that was a whole new set of problems in Kara’s seemingly one-track mind. Because no one should be able to look so good while being so sweaty. At least in Kara’s opinion. And certainly not be that flexible and bendy. It was the bending that made Supergirl weak.

The Lena that had those dressed that she wore to events, that Kara got to see either as a plus one or later in the night when she visited, that Lena was a distraction that actually caused property damage. Kara couldn’t swallow near that Lena.

But the Lena in the skin-tight suit, with the curves and the mask and the smirk and the ring and the power. That Lena led to bruises. Even when they should have been all business, Kara couldn’t help the tiniest percentage of her brain that snuck a glance between punches.

Green Lantern was powerful. She was determined and she could pack a punch. When it was all hands on deck because of a rogue attack, she was on the front lines, doing everything she could, and Kara knew that she was in love with her as a person. Not in love with. No, she told herself. She was infatuated with… but she wasn’t in love with. She wouldn’t let herself think it was love. That would be dangerous.

But the last body hit the floor, and Lena’s chest was heaving and she was fiesty in the purest form of the word. That was when Kara knew.

Teeth bit at a bruise and made her hiss, drawing Kara’s brain from overthinking too much about the notion of love and being super.

The invasion that came was a surprise and ruined an awfully routine Wednesday. Lena watched the sky open up in the middle of a call, where she dropped it and pulled an alarm that let her slip from the office and jump into the foray. By the time Supergirl saw the streak of green, she was pinned against the ground with a giant creature atop her that was punching her repeatedly. And then a giant baseball bat swung and took it away.

“I had him,” Supergirl complained as she stood and dusted herself off.

“I’m sure you did, gorgeous,” Green Lantern smirked and winked before disappearing in a streak of light to demolish the herd.

Kara showed off sometimes, during battle, when Lena was around. It was second nature to her. And when the bodies were all dropped and the world was safe, when the League had been dispatched and the cleanup was underway, both heroes landed on a balcony of a penthouse apartment, ahlf out of breath and full of hormones and battle and grit.

“Off,” Lena growled as she tugged on cape and was pushed slightly, rolled against the wall she once pinned the other hero to in her eagerness.

It was messy. The kisses that bruised lips, but still, Kara complied, tugging at her own clothes and rooting her palm on Lena’s chest.

They had sex once. It was very different but it tinged the rest of their interactions with this new kind of knowledge. And then time and life and a battle on another planet and a deadline for articles, and they just were busy. It was sweet and kind and they took their time, knitting their eyes shut and pressing their foreheads together as they came. It was not this.

“Do the thing,” Kara pulled away just enough for Lena to change her clothes.

Lena’s lips were back a second later. In a mess, they made their way down the hall, hitting the walls like pinballs against bumpers. Kara tugged at boots and then pushed down Lena’s pants. Lena tugged at Kara’s top and held her neck when she kissed her.

“When you lifted the semi and took out a dozen of them,” Lena moaned as she felt a mouth on her nipple and her back inched up the wall. “That was so sexy.”

“When you saved Flash–”

Her hair was tugged and she didn’t know what to do or say, but Kara fumbled her way toward the bedroom, still barely able to keep up with Lena.

“Fuck,” Lena rushed as her back hit the bed and Kara climbed atop her.

“Yeah.”

“Please.”

It wasn’t a request, and though it was polite, it was more of an order. There wasn’t anything slow about it. Nails scratched at unscratchable skin as the moans grew more and more incoherent. But Kara had the faintest glimmer of control, and she ran with it because she made Lena beg and make those noises, which were important.

Her picture would be on the news for saving the city, but Kara knew of only one thing of which she wanted to be known, and that was for turning Lena Luthor into a puddle of languid nerves who purred out swear words after she came and her body jolted as Supergirl brought her down from the high.

It wouldn’t make a good headline, but Kara wanted to write that story.

* * *

The entire world could fall apart, and Lena wouldn’t have cared. It was sometime and they were exhausted and that was about as much facts as she could really muster, mostly because while she knew Kara to be intense, she never imagined her to be insatiable.

The bedroom was hot and the sheets were damp. For the life of her, she wished she smoked, but instead she had to settle for lazily rubbing her palm along her own sternum.

There had been times when Lena Luthor used her name and money and had fun. There had never been a moment in which she could remember being sexed so thoroughly. Her other hand moved through a certain Super’s somewhat matted hair.

“I know you want to tell them, but I don’t want anyone to look at us differently,” Kara explained as she toyed with Lena’s nipple, slowly circling it, tired and not interested in doing much else than feeling her shiver from time to time.

“Like Arrow and Canary?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you more worried about Clark?”

“No,” Kara lied and rolled over slightly so that she was half hanging off the bed and able to kiss Lena’s ribs, which she did in slow measure.

“Lex then.”

“No.”

“I know you’ve been investigating him.”

To her credit, she didn’t deny it, just furrowed and looked up, hoping to read Lena better, though it proved impossible. All Kara could do was hang her head and press her nose into her pillow’s stomach.

“It’s not that,” Kara whispered.

“I’m out of guesses then, because Olly and Dinah are still part of the team. Nothing has changed.”

“But it has changed,” she argued. “They don’t go on risky missions. They barely go anymore. That’s the rules of the game. You work until you have something to come home to or die.”

“Those are the only options?”

“That I know of.”

“You’re Supergirl. I don’t think you get benched,” Lena closed her eyes and stretched her arms above her head.

“It will just become a thing,” Kara shrugged. “And you know it will.”

“It doesn’t have to be a thing.”

“It will.”

“You’re something to me, Kara,” Lena explained as she took a deep breath. “I don’t want to hide it. I came home and I wanted to be me. You’re part of that.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

“Unless you don’t want to be.”

“I do.”

“If you are worried–”

“Lena, stop,” Kara shook her head and sat up slightly, leaning closer toward the pillows that remained at the top of the mattress. “I like you a lot.”

“I’ve never done this before. It’s a little nerve wracking.”

Kara’s apartment smelled like them. It smelled like biting and kissing and to Kara, specifically, it smelled like Lena, all over the place. She looked at the naked girl in her bed and she smiled as Lena fret with her ring, twisting it on her finger and avoiding her eyes.

Green Lantern was a powerful, cocky, brilliant space agent with a killer upper cut and scathing kind of wit defined by justice. Lena Luthor was a terrified, soft, nervous heiress who never had to grow up, wrapped in a metal armor of low expectations and being just so damn afraid of what the future could hold, that she didn’t want to move. And Kara knew it. They knew each other and Kara came to see these parts of Lena, though sometimes she found herself forgetting that just as her superhero emblem made her a different person, she was also mostly human-like in her endeavors and fragility.

With a tiny kiss, Kara moved along Lena’s body, inhaling as her nose ran along the skin of her chest and shoulders and neck. She kissed and smiled against jaw and lips as hands held onto her every which way.

“You’ve never been an intergalactic space cop who has to be part of a team of superheroes,” Kara asked, “Or you’ve never dated someone?”

“Both.”

“So it isn’t just sex after missions then?”

“No.” She said it begrudgingly, as if she never wanted to admit anything of the sort ever in her life.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Kara shrugged with a smile. “We don’t have to tell anyone yet. I don’t care. I won’t tell my cousin. Not until you’re ready.”

“What if I am never ready?” It was quiet and timid and they were effectively done with being brave heroes.

“You will be. One day.”

“How do you know?”

“Because,” Kara grinned and kissed her again. “You’re already falling in love with me.”

“Never,” Lena snorted.

“You are. You’re in love with me.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

The words were barely out of her mouth before Lena took the dar quite seriously, and went about the task at hand of quieting Supergirl. She wasn’t very effective, because if anything, all she did was earn loud moans.

It was better than admitting the truth.

* * *

On the nights when the stars aligned, and Kara and Lena got to see each other, it was amazing. It gave Lena a skip in her step. It gave Kara a bit of a blushing edge to herself, to have people gawk and ask how in the world she got a Luthor, let alone that Luthor. They got to know each other as people, and they got to know each other as heroes, understanding innately how easy it was for those two roles to be intertwined. They were linked by a common bond, and also an insane crush on the other in both realms of their beings.

The first cover they made it to as a couple was pure speculation and crazy theories. The second was Supergirl and the Green Lantern defeating a drug kingpin, both mid punch in the same frame and heralded as heroes. The third cover was a picture from a fancy charity function, just Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers, the newest ‘it’ couple and resident cavity-inducers. Kara like that one the best. They looked normal and they looked happy– she felt happy.

Her sister had a different opinion.

It simmered just below the surface at the DEO, and it carried on into their real lives, outside of the hero-ing, where Alex was cautious and constantly warning her sister that it was a bad idea. Even with the status of Green Lantern, her sister was not convinced that Lena Luthor was any more safe. In fact, with that kind of power, Alex was almost certain the youngest Luthor would be up to something.

By the time Lex pulled his first move, no one really saw it coming. Lulled into a false state of calm with minimal problems in the world, lulled into a false state of hope with the thrill of a new kind of romance, both foreign and dangerous to the young heroes, no one expected it in the slightest, though the groundwork was evident for years prior when they finally looked for it.

No one could tie the robbery to Lex Luthor, not specifically. But the highly dangerous alien tech was stolen and Luthor Corp happened to have a highly fortified, lead-lined research center by the docks. The robbery was just a blimp on the DEO radar, passed off to a special investigations unit to investigate internally. Three months later, when the tech showed up, it took a fair bit of twisting to even remember and connect to two incidents.

But an entire delegation from the visiting planet of Xonet was gone, and the tech was not human in origin.

Lex Luthor was the first person to comment on the tragedy, though he applauded the efforts of the patriot who believed in it strongly enough. He cooperated and he rose up as a fearful voice for the masses of humans against welcoming another race to their planet.

Kara tried not to jump to conclusions, but it was impossible. It was more impossible when Winn found a money trail that was not definitive, but certainly was curious.

“Get your girlfriend in here,” Alex demanded as she paraded through the halls, her arm in a sling from narrowly avoiding the brunt of the attack and the debris that flew in all directions. “She sure does like green flashes of energy, and I had to stare down one hell of a coincidental attack.”

“She had nothing to do with it.”

“Her brother sure as hell did, and you know it.”

“I think he did, but I don’t think she did,” Kara shook her head, crossing her arms defensively. “I know she didn’t,” she amended a second later, more adamantly. “There’s no way.”

“Those two are thick as thieves! You think he can get away with anything without her knowing? She’s a goddamn Green Lantern!”

“I know you’re upset–”

“You’re damn right I’m upset, Kara,” Alex seethed. “Someone murdered an entire congregation of people under my protection, half of my squad, and nearly killed Maggie!”

“I know.”

“And we find ties to Lex Luthor and he starts inciting every wingnut with half a brain to start thinking and doing the same things! You think he’s not involved? I know you know better.”

“Lena didn’t do anything.”

“You have to distance yourself from her and what she’s capable of. She’s dangerous. That whole family is nothing but secrets and lies and violence–”

“I know, Alex! But Lena isn’t like them!”

“She stood beside her brother when he gave that press conference, didn’t she?”

“Doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means everything.”

“She didn’t know!”

Kara stomped around and clenched her fists, already sick of this argument which played itself out repeatedly in tinier ways for the past few months. This was it though. She was certain, or at least she thought she was certain. She was sure enough. There was no possible way the brilliant and kind and honorable woman she’d come to know was involved with whatever part Lex Luthor played in the attack. There was no way.

“Be careful who you trust, Kara. These are dangerous times to make a mistake.”

“She’s not a mistake,” she growled before turning on her heel and leaving the DEO in favor of some space and time to clear her head.

* * *

High atop the city, the two heroes sat on the edge of the tallest building and looked out to where the horizon bent as the sun finally disappeared. They scanned the city, not with the interest of finding anything or to stop any crimes, but more with a calm kind of awe at the world below them.

It’d been an awkward few weeks, with Lex and his rhetoric and Lena being busy, pulled away for some business across the galaxy. Kara spent too much time locked in her own head and worrying herself raw about Alex’s worry. Now, back together again, they didn’t want to say the wrong things, though nothing was ever going to be right.

“Just ask,” Lena sighed as she fiddled with her ring. Her face grew into stone as she refused to feel anything at all during this talk.

She let herself like Kara. She let herself be swept up in the idea of being a hero and being someone good and better than the girl that left to find her real parents, that she thought she could change things. She couldn’t though, and deep down, Lena believed that she’d never be worthy of someone like Kara’s love, nor did she believe she was capable of being a hero in that truest sense of the word that the Kryptonian enveloped.

“I’m not going to ask,” Kara shook her head and leaned back.

“Just do it so we can get this over with.”

“I’m not going to ask because I know you. I know the truth.”

“Then yell at me.”

“For what?” she chuckled and scooted closer.

“Just… I don’t know. Do something.”

“I’d kiss you if you’d look at me.”

Her cheeks burned with fear and the idea of kissing Kara, but even with the guilt and the idea that she didn’t deserve it, Lena lifted her head slightly, looked at Kara from beneath her lashes, and waited for her heart to skip as it always did.

“Just ask,” Lena shook her head.

She just earned a genuine smile before Kara leaned forward and kissed her. It was soft, and slow. That barely touching lips kind of kiss, right there on the edge of a building with the horizon frowning in all directions. Kara kissed her lips, she kissed the corner of them, and she nudged her cheek with her nose before she kissed her forehead and Lena slumped against her shoulder.

“You didn’t have anything to do with what your brother did.”

“I didn’t,” she promised, despite the fact that Kara wasn’t asking.

“I know that. I never doubted it.”

“Really?”

“Lena, I swear.”

“Okay.”

“I do want to know about your plan though. You must have one.”

Lena played with the fringe of Kara’s skirt. She ran her fingertips along her thigh and relaxed for the first time in what felt like a month. Something about having Kara on her team meant she was doing something right, or so she thought.

“I’m handling it. I have to handle it.”

“I’m here.”

“I know,” she nodded and inhaled the smells of the altitude and the city and the night.

No one knew they were there, and really, at that moment, no one cared. Kara kissed the top of Lena’s head again and inhaled that smell. She liked how she smelled and she wanted to tell her because she thought it was important, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it, so she kissed there instead.

“I’ve never felt this before… I never… With anyone. What I mean… there’s. It’s complicated,” Kara tried, working her way through it. “I won’t hurt you, Lena. And I trust you. I’m on your side, for anything.”

“I’ve never done anything of importance in my life. You’re important. This ring is important.”

“I didn’t have to ask, you know?”

“I know.”

Lena took a deep breath and steadied herself. She expected to leave empty-handed because she was accustomed to not having to hold anything in them. Now she had everything and it was even more terrifying.


	6. Chapter 6

The rain pattered against the window, and Lena Luthor watched it drip down the panes in the grey that came before dawn. Outside, the roads were mostly empty save for the occasional sloshing of an early commuter or deliver truck. Instead, while the city woke, the ground collected puddles and street lights stayed on a little longer than normal, tinting the day the pallid orange of the night. 

In the bed, the sheets smelled like oranges. Like lemons, fresh from the trees, like the rinds were right there, that earthy smell, so sweet and fresh and natural. They were warm and soft and worn. The bed was decidedly smaller than the one she had in her own apartment, but she didn’t mind it at all. She fit there, staring at the windows and inhaling the fresh smell of the pillow and Kara’s skin.

The only movement Lena made was to tilt her head down for a moment. She rubbed her lips and nose along the soft hairs on Kara’s arm. They tickled her and soothed her. She smiled to herself as she reached beneath the smell of the soap and the sheets to the inherently Kara smell. Almost like metal, almost like the air before a thunderstorm, the smell was something Lena could never find, though she spent mornings trying. The rain gave her a little extra time.

But things couldn’t stay that simple, no matter how much she wanted them to, and no matter how many raindrops she counted to herself, and no matter how soft and perfect the feeling of her nose and lips on Kara’s wrist felt.

Despite a little resistance in the form of a sleeping superhero, Lena slid out of her girlfriend’s arms and sat up on the edge of the bed, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping Kryptonian. With a small smile, she watched Kara’s peaceful face burrow a little more into the pillow. And the rain kept falling outside, and the windows still tapped out an uneasy rhythm.

Lena left a bag at Kara’s. Or at least she tried. Often she found herself without fresh clothes, and she’d developed a system. Kara, on the other hand, seemed to find it funny to toss Lena’s clothes as far from the bed as possible. That meant an early morning search despite superhuman ears.

But she’d become an expert by now, enjoying the feel of Kara’s sheets and arms and bed more than her much too large penthouse. And because of that, Lena was an expert in finding and putting on clothes in the dark.

“It’s early, Lee,” Kara grunted, adjusting to her new spot on the bed, which was actually where Lena’ had been asleep, as her body searched the sheets for the missing member.

“I have meetings all day,” Lena reminded the half-asleep monster as she finished buttoning her shirt, making a mental note to text Jess on the way in to bring a change of clothes. “Go back to sleep.”

“Nooo,” she whined, stretching it out a few extra letters.

“Stop by after your family dinner.”

“You should come.” The words were half muffled by pillow and sheets and sleep.

“Maybe another time. But after. I’ll leave the balcony open.”

“Mmm.”

Lena smiled and leaned over, bracing herself around Kara and slipping forward to kiss her neck, below her ear, the corner of her jaw, her cheek.

“I –”

For a moment, words choked themselves in her throat. Lena felt the compulsion to just say them. She wasn’t sure what made her start, but she stopped herself all the same, as if waking herself from a dream in the middle of the night, as if being tossed from safety into a fire. She didn’t say the words, but they changed things.

“I’m going to be late,” she decided, kissing Kara’s temple and pushing away from the bed. “Have a good day, darling.”

“You too,” Kara yawned, rolling over and starfishing .

Half uncovered and already asleep again, Kara snored softly as Lena paused in the doorway, surveying the scene.

“Dammit,” she mumbled before shaking her head and rushing to the waiting car.

* * *

The titanium fighting dummy hit the wall with a thud and Kara sighed, happy and distracted from her perch at the top of the observation deck. Below her, Lena wiped sweat from her forehead and set again, ready for another sparring session.

J’onn helped the practice. He worked with Lena on controlling her mind, on making it sharper and faster, while James helped her train her body, getting physical and not resorting explicitly to her ring for help. Due to the distracting nature of existing, Kara found herself banned from the practice nights, which she deeply resented, because she was an excellent sparring partner. Much better than James in her own opinion.

But Lena looked so darn sexy when she was sweaty and boxing and making things materialize from her willpower. And thus, because of such thoughts, Kara found herself relegated to patrol, which she finished early and allowed herself a look in on the progress.

Lena took her training so seriously, that it was hard to imagine the heiress persona she put on for most of her life. She was smart. Too smart, even. And she was good, honest and just and fair and good. She was infuriating and sweet and funny and often, she was too much for Kara to handle, which was oddly enough, something that only enamored her further.

“Skies all clear tonight?” Alex asked, saddling up beside her sister at the window.

A burst of green enveloped Lena as different people tried to attack her and get rid of the shield. J’onn barked orders, arms crossed over his chest at first before his hands moved to his hips as he surveyed the Green Lantern inside.

“Hm? Yes. Of course. All good. I went around twice,” Kara promised, not diverting her eyes from the show.

Alex had eyes and she had enough sense about her sister to know when she was done. This was it. This was certain. Kara was a goner, and it wasn’t a simple case of puppy love. It was real and it was tangible.

With a flash, the green shell cracked and disappeared, leaving Lena drenched in sweat, chest heaving with the exertion. Alex couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she watched the Director of the DEO approach and explain with his hands, face stern and impressed. Alex knew him well enough to pick up on that.

It just showed how crazy the past few months had been, to have Lena Luthor in the inner sanctum of the DEO, and training, for that matter.

“You should invite Lena to family dinner,” Alex finally offered.

“She says it’s our time,” the hero shrugged. “Doesn’t want to intrude or make anyone feel weird. Her name… it’s… she feels self-conscious I think.”

“I like her,” her sister nodded. “I like her for you.”

“Last month, she practically snuck out of bed the morning of, so I wouldn’t ask her to come wit me.”

“Smart.”

They both smirked and watched the next bout start up.

“I almost told her I loved her.” The confession was quiet, was tiny, was soft, more importantly. It was said with weighed syllables. It was purposeful, not weak, but rather precise.

“Almost?”

“Last week,” Kara hung her head, cheeks growing a bit pink. “Everything was falling apart. Clark found out about us and wasn’t happy. I had a really bad fight with that alien down at the docks. It was just bad, and I went to her place, and she was just sitting there, pouring over these files on her couch. But when she saw me, she like jumped over the back and hopped up on me, wrapped her legs around me and just smiled, and my day disappeared.”

Wistfully, Kara smiled, stared at Lena fiercely, and remembered.

“I got close. I opened my mouth, but wouldn’t let the words come out. I want to, I just… Once I say it, it’s true. It’s out there.”

“Yes. That’s how that works,” Alex nudged her side.

“And if she doesn’t?”

“She does.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“It might not,” she shrugged and pushed up from the railing, earning a snapped glance from Kara. “You’re allowed to be happy. I never thought your happiness would involve a Luthor, but here we are.”

“She’s not like –”

“I know.”

“Just look at her,” Kara sighed, gazing back at the woman who commanded a sword made of green energy, breaking another practice dummy. “She’s perfect.”

“You have a really weird type.”

“What?”

“Murdery intergalactic warriors with daddy issues is very specific.”

“I was thinking more of the ‘looks good in leather’ type,” Kara smiled to herself as her sister rolled her eyes.

“I was just about to invite her to family dinner myself,” Alex groaned. “But I need time to wash my brain of that image.”

With a yuck, Alex left her sister to watch the festivities below. She didn’t worry about the news or her cousin or the feeling of nerves that seemed to live in her spine when she remembered Lex and Lena’s last name and the duties associated with it.

Kara watched and smiled to herself because she was definitely in love, and that was probably the scariest thing she ever could be.

“Dammit,” she whispered to herself and slumped a little more.

* * *

“Oof.”

For a moment, in the dust that filled the air and the feeling of concrete and rocks breaking her fall, Lena leaned back and melted into the rubble. For just one second she allowed herself to feel the punch and how sore she’d be, and let herself quit, for just an instant. A small, insignificant instant.

But her watch beeped, telling her that no matter which planet she was currently on, and no matter who she was currently fighting, she was going to be very late to a very important meeting that involved her girlfriend’s family. It was something she couldn’t mess up, and she certainly couldn’t quit, no matter how nice the cool, dirty metal and debris felt.

Lena sat herself up and wiped the blood from her mouth on the back of her wrist and pushed off toward the fight again.

“We really have to wrap this up,” Lena grit as she made a battering ram and hit the alien off of her partner and into the side of a wall.

“I’m sorry that an intergalactic assassination plot is interrupting your personal life,” he grunted as they both took off toward the fleeing members of the party.

“I just think it’s funny that you need my help,” she smirked, scooping up a plotter with a shovel and tossing him into a green prison cell that floated high above the city. “You’re the seasoned veteran. I’m just the rookie.”

“Yeah, you are,” Simon smiled to himself as his partner got yanked and spun around.

Lena rolled onto the ground a few paces from the exact alien that punched her into a wall and felt her shoulders sag with the intimate knowledge of its strength.

“Alright, Tiny, let’s do this,” she muttered.

The battle picked up, tearing across the market of whatever city they were now on. Lena dropped a safe, and then a piano, and then a car, and finally a boat on the alien before he stopped getting up. The exertion left her a little tired, but it was almost worth it.

“I don’t have to call you back to earth this often, Simon,” Lena teased her partner when all the dust settled and they regrouped with their captured lot.

“You also have a team of people with powers doing most of your work for you.”

“You haven’t met my brother.”

“I’d love to, actually. I’m pretty sure he had something to do with this.”

“This?” she balked. “How?”

With a yank of a gun from an alien’s arm under his boot, Simon peeled off a panel of the weapon and showed Lena a symbol she didn’t recognize.

“This is the tech that killed that ambassador a few months ago.”

“There’s no way,” she shook her head. “There’s another reason.”

“Lena, I called you because there is something happening here,” he explained. “Not because I couldn’t take down a few guys. I need your help to access LexCorp files.”

“I… I can’t.”

“Earth is your squadron. You can’t think like a sister. You have to think like a Lantern.”

Once again, her watch beeped, and helplessly, Lena clicked it quiet and stared at the symbol and then at her partner’s eyes. She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before spitting the accumulation of blood and saliva on the ground, wiping her mouth, and nodding.

* * *

“Fuck, fuck fuck fuck,” Lena complained to herself as she frantically searched for something to wear.

Despite Kara’s assurances on the phone that everyone was running late and she was fine, that they were all used to hero-time, Lena pictured her night going so much differently. It didn’t matter that she already knew Kara’s friends and family. It didn’t matter that she liked Winn, or that she sparred with James, or that she worked with and respected J’onn. No, none of that mattered because Alex would be there, and she was the key to Kara’s heart. And it didn’t matter because Clark would be there, and Clarke was the sun to Kara. And it didn’t matter because a sweet sounding woman named Eliza, the saint that raised Kara, would be there, flying in from across the country, and she was late.

“This is good, right?” she asked her reflection as she smoothed a dress over her hips and turned to the side.

It was just an informal dinner, she shook her head and pushed the dress to the ground, stepping out of in in search of something different.

Continually, Lena turned over in her head the news her partner gave her at the site of the last battle, trying to piece it all together. There were files waiting to be opened at the Tower, and Lena couldn’t because she had to go to the dinner that was very important, and that she wasn’t freaking out about in the leas–

“Son of a bitch,” she groaned after stubbing her toe and hopping toward her bed as she tugged on a sweater.

She caught the purple of her ribs and willed them healed, her ring glowing on her finger slightly as she focused and tried to calm her mind. It proved harder than most other times.

“Get it together, Luthor,” Lena warned herself after a hard stare in the mirror. “You’re a damn catch. Kara is perfect. We’re perfect. Nothing to be worried about at all.”

It worked for about three seconds. Lena stood and buttoned her pants before stretching some of the soreness away as she searched for shoes.

Quickly, she messaged Kara that she would be there in ten. It could have been five, but she didn’t want to fly. She wanted to be normal, or as normal as they could be, and that meant a cab ride to get her nerves in check. She needed those ten minutes.

I’m sorry! I’m literally walking out my front door as I typ–

Halfway through her text, Lena ran into a wall where there shouldn’t have been a wall. Her front door was blocked in a new way, and she wasn’t sure what it meant, but it raised her heckles almost immediately.

“Where’s the fire?”

“Lex?” Lena looked up and met her brother’s stern, cold eyes. “What are– It’s after nine. I thought you were in Berlin.”

“That was three days ago,” he stated. “About the last time you were at work, from what I’ve heard.”

“I’ve been working from home,” she shrugged, maneuvering herself around him as she pulled her front door shut behind herself. “I’m sorry. I can’t hang out. I’m super late.”

“We need to talk.”

“Can we do it tomorrow?”

“This is serious.”

“I really–”

“I came to your apartment,” he reminded her, his voice raising somewhat. “I don’t go to people, they come to me. I said that we need to talk.”

“Lex, I’m not one of your employees. I’m your partner and a member of the board,” Lena stiffened, finally standing up taller than she was accustomed. “I’m not in the mood for a lecture. I’m late to meet my girlfriend’s family for dinner, and I don’t know if I’m going to ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me. So I don’t have time for your ego.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” he bit as Lena pressed the button for the elevator. “You’re gone all of the time, ditching work, not caring at all about our name, in your own world, and I expected that. I knew that’s who you were. But don’t come asking business questions, as if you were a part of this business.”

“What?”

Lex presented a file folder of information requests and acquisitions that Lena has been looking into, on and off the record. It was the ones she did in private that alarmed her, clearly showing that his software detection was much better than she anticipated. But Lena played it as best she could.

“Excuse me for trying to take an interest,” she shoved the folder back. “I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t it seems. I try to take an interest and help with one of your conductor diagrams, and I’m always the annoying little sister that left and let you down, aren’t I?”

“What–”

“I was going to email you when I got to the office tomorrow, but I figured out your capacitor and conductor problem.”

“When?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she stiffened and shook her head slightly as the elevator arrived. Lena couldn’t look at her brother. He would know she was bluffing about something. He always knew. “You came to yell and bark because I’m here and that’s what you do, so let’s get it over with. I have something I need to do now.”

In a flush of brilliance, the elevator opened and Lena took a step inside before she did look up at her brother and waited for him to enter. With a small ding, the doors closed and they started the slow descent to the ground level. Lena stood still while Lex ran his hand along the back of his neck.

“Lena, there are things happening at LexCorp that I need to know you are on my team for,” he finally stated, firm and stoic.

“When are you on my team?”

Guilty in a way, the big brother swallowed and watched the floors get lower.

“Your girlfriend?” Lex finally asked. “And a capacitor?”

“No one else yells at you, but I’m not going to let you come to my place, ready to explode, say nasty things, and then make small talk.”

“There are things happ–”

“Yeah. I know,” Lena growled, crossing her arms across her chest impatiently.

They were quiet as the door finally opened.

“We should put something on the books. I’d like to meet her.”

“Who?”

“Your girlfriend,” Lex smiled.

“Leave me alone,” Lena shook her head and walked out of the elevator. She made it a few steps before she turned around. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

* * *

The rain pattered against the window, and Lena Luthor watched it drip down the panes in the grey that came before dawn. Outside, the roads were mostly empty save for the occasional sloshing of an early commuter or deliver truck. Instead, while the city woke, the ground collected puddles and street lights stayed on a little longer than normal, tinting the day the pallid orange of the night.

In the bed, the sheets smelled like oranges. Like lemons, fresh from the trees, like the rinds were right there, that earthy smell, so sweet and fresh and natural. They were warm and soft and worn. The bed was decidedly smaller than the one she had in her own apartment, but she didn’t mind it at all. She fit there, staring at the windows and inhaling the fresh smell of the pillow and Kara’s skin.

The only movement Lena made was to tilt her head down for a moment. She rubbed her lips and nose along the soft hairs on Kara’s arm. They tickled her and soothed her. She smiled to herself as she reached beneath the smell of the soap and the sheets to the inherently Kara smell. Almost like metal, almost like the air before a thunderstorm, the smell was something Lena could never find, though she spent mornings trying. The rain gave her a little extra time.

“It wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kara whispered before kissing Lena’s neck.

“It wasn’t the worst,” she mumbled, tilting her head to the side as lips hummed against the skin of her neck.

“They all liked you.”

“I knew them already.”

“They knew Green Lantern,” she reminded her. “They didn’t know my girlfriend Lena.”

“I once saved Superman from a Kryptonite attack, and I wanted to remind him of that tonight. I never met Lois before though, and she was amazing, so I kept quiet.”

“That was very nice of you.”

“Eliza is really nice,” Lena whispered as Kara’s hand slid up her ribs and cupped her breast, making her arch.

“You make a really good impression.”

“Even though I was late?”

“No one cared. We were all late,” Kara promised.

Lena rolled over, allowing Kara to climb on top of her. Even in the dark she could feel the smile that was happening as she kissed her again.

“I got in a fight with my brother. He knows I’m researching things I shouldn’t be looking at, and I can’t explain my disappearances.”

Kara slumped slightly, stopping her ministrations that she hoped would lead to late night sex. She was exhausted but really was eager for that part.

“Are you okay?”

“He wants to meet you.”

The moment was gone, and Kara knew it. She slid to the side and rested her chin on on Lena’s chest.

“This is going to be less fun than my dinner, isn’t it?” Kara sighed.

She earned a smile and a kiss on her forehead.


End file.
